Pacific Ocean Blue
by bobdabuilder0804
Summary: COMPLETE! Jack is injured and their is a potential threat on Los Angeles. Theres one more problem - its getting very personal. COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

This fiction takes places after Seasons 1 and 2, but probably wont refer to them. It's before the crisis of Season 3 takes place, but includes characters from Season 3. 

Hope you like it! 

C.T.U.

Jack Bauer sat at his cluttered desk in front of dozens of sheets of file paper, all containing information on the latest case he was wrapping up. His head resting in his left hand as he continued to stare at the timeline, trying to complete it. His eyes were drooping and it was becoming increasingly difficult to stay awake. He herd a knock at his glass door and turned to see Kim pushing her way through the heavy door, the only person who could make him smile as he entailed such a boring task. 

"Hey Dad, how's it coming along?" She asked whilst handing him a styrofoam cup of coffee, which he eagerly took. 

"Uh, well the brief is done, the case notes are all ready, the hard drive is completed, I just need to finish the timeline and then it can go over to District, case closed." His voice showed no enthusiasm, just the lack of sleep he was feeling. 

"Well then that's great. Shouldn't you be happy, the case is closed, theirs no more work to do. Hell, all me and Adam have been doing is refreshing the systems, theirs no new leads to compile information on." 

Jack started to laugh, "You seem disappointed there's no overflowing work load!" 

"No, I just thought that seen as there's nothing to do you could sneak off home an hour early Dad, you have been here since 3 this afternoon, you look exhausted, you should go home and rest." She said concerned, always worrying about him, even if it was something as small as lack of sleep. 

"Yeah well Tony's shift starts at 5 then I'm going to take off. You might want to come home too?" 

"Erm, I finish at 6 so I'm going to stick it out, Adam's going to show me how to work the satellite imagery." 

"Oh, ok then, I'll see you after 6 then." 

"Yep, so until you leave I want you to ring me every time you need a new coffee refill!" She said smiling. 

"Ok thanks hun." As he said those words Kim left his office and headed back down to Adam who was waiting for her. Jack watched her work for a moment then turned his attention back to the timeline, there was only a month more to fill in and then it would finally be finished 

The Almeida Residence.

The house was dark, and husband and wife lay in bed together soundly sleeping. The door to their room was opened slowly, and masked men began to enter to room. Five men filtered in slowly and surrounded the bed. One man nodded to another, and then two of them threw the quilt off as the two grabbed Tony and threw him out of the bed. Tony felt himself roughly fall from bed, then he groggily realised somebody was tying his hands behind his back. He tried to struggle and began shouting trying to understand what was going on. He felt somebody sticking tape over his mouth, then saw Michelle wake up from the commotion. 

Suddenly panic hit Tony. It became obvious they were being attacked and he prayed Michelle would be okay. Michelle was screaming at the men and ran at them, trying to get to Tony. One of the attackers pulled out a gun and smashed her on the head with it, she fell to the floor, unconscious. 

Infuriated Tony thrashed around, but the restraints around his hands, and now his legs too, were too strong. Suddenly a bag was thrown over his head and he was dragged away, his thoughts only on the image of Michelle on the floor bleeding. 

Three of the men carried Tony's struggling body out of his home, across the lawn and into the boot of an awaiting car. The men locked the trunk, then looked around to see if anyone had seen or herd the commotion, there was nobody in sight, they were probably all asleep. 

Inside the car, the men pulled their masks off and began to unwind. The leader, John, pulled out his phone and rang his boss, the funder for the operation, Daniel. On the first ring Daniel answered, 

"Hello." 

"Its John, we have the package, moving to location 1." 

He hung up, satisfied everything was going to plan. 

Okay, that was the first chapter, (obviously)! Let me know what you think of it so far... please! 

P.S. Any ideas of what to call it would be great! 


	2. Chapter 2

Chloé walked up the metal staircase towards her station, wiping the sleep from her eyes. Before taking her place before her terminal she decided to go across to Jacks office instead, to let him know she was here and see if he wanted her to do anything for him. She knew he had been here since before her last shift ended and before this one began, and guessed he'd be wanting the leave this place as soon as he could. However, more importantly she wanted him to know she was early, she wanted people to see how efficient she was at doing her job. 

Pushing her way through the awkwardly heavy door she saw Jack hunched over his desk, seemingly asleep. A pen was lodged between his fingers and his head was resting over some documents. Chloé stood and watched , now encountering on of her moral dilemmas. Should she wake Jack? If she did he would probably snap at her and be grumpy because he was tired. But, she pondered, if she left him to sleep he wouldn't know she was early. She pondered these thoughts for a few moments before deciding to wake him, he shouldn't be sleeping on the job, she decided. 

She approached slowly as though he were a bomb set to go off at any moment, and shook him awake. Jack jolted awake immediately, and after wiping his mouth he stood up to stretch his arms and back while letting out a loud yawn, he then proceeded to try and smooth the creases out of his white shirt. Chloé watched apprehensively until he thanked her for waking him, which made her immediately relax. 

"You know Jack, you could get into a lot of trouble for sleeping on the job, and its hardly professional...." Jack tried to ignore Chlo's annoying moan of the day and paced around the office, trying to awaken himself, uninterested in whatever she was whining about this time. Still, she continued on, despite his lack of interest. 

"Chloé, I have a major headache, and hearing your voice isn't making it go away." He stated bluntly. 

This stopped her and she stood with a frustrated look across her face before storming off towards her station. Trying to get her nagging complaints from his mind he checked his watch and smiled, 5 am, he could go home soon, once Tony got here. At this he left his office and went down to the central area of CTU, looking around for Tony.

* * *

Tony wriggled about in the cramped confines of the boot, struggling to free his hands, but it seemed the harder he tried the tighter they became. He decided to change his plan of action, and listened intently over the sounds of the car for whatever activity was going on, and try to figure out who these guys were and where they were taking him. He could hear somebody talking, but no responses, so he guessed somebody was on a phone. Straining to hear anything, he only got the last sentence of the call, but didn't like it one bit. 

"The attack is already in place, and we will intercept the second package." The unknown gruff voice said. 

Tony felt the pit of his stomach drop, he could only assume they were talking about attacking CTU. 

Trying to concentrate on listening harder he found that what he was really doing was trying to preoccupy his mind from letting the image of Michelle creep back into his mind. He prayed she was okay and that they hadn't taken here too, that somebody would find her. He guessed that he was due in CTU around now, and Jack would be eager to leave after his shift. Maybe he would get suspicious and drive over to their home to see what was taking him so long. He hoped he would.

* * *

Jack couldn't find Tony around, so he headed to the doorman, who informed him Tony hadn't checked in. Sighing, Jack leaned onto the wall staring out of a window, where he noticed a silver object glimmer through the last of the nights darkness. Curious he headed back upstairs to the window over there, it took a few moments, but again it shone defiantly against the night. This time Jack recognised it as the lens from a sniper. Trying to remain calm he picked up the phone and tried to make an internal call, but an pre recorded operators voice informed him all calls were locked. Now panicking, Jack ran down to the analyst area of CTU. 

"Adam-" Jack called, but was immediately cut off by Adam, who, without looking up from his terminal screen yelled: 

"Jack we got a big problem here, all computer systems are down and I can't filter it out." 

"The phones are locked as well and there's a sniper outside, probably had reinforcements. Were under attack" 

"What? Oh my God, how many personnel are in?" 

Jack thought for a moment then gravely replied, "1 man on the door, you, Scott and Kim down here, Chloé upstairs, and me and Baker on field ops, no security." 

"What? 7 people, only 2 from tactical? What are we going to do?" He asked, visibly scared. 

"You get Kim and Chloé out of here with Scott, me and Baker will have to come up with something, fast. Take them down to the defence shelter past the conference room. Once you have got them out of here, I want you to come back and try to get a message over to division or LAPD, at the moment all communications are out." 

Adam nodded, nervously, then Jack said, "Go now Adam. Fast as you can, we need to end this before it starts." 

Again he nodded in response, too scared to talk. For the first time in 3 years, he had herd fear in Jack Bauer's voice.

* * *

Why oh why, out of all the characters on 24, did they name, 'HER' Chloé, my name?!! Lol.


	3. Chapter 3

Michelle began to stir as she could feel an agonising headache taking place in her skull. She blinked a few times before she realised she was on the floor, then she remembered what had happened. She quickly jumped up and ignored the dizziness she was greeted with. 

"Tony...?" She whispered as she looked around. Seeing that the place looked like it had been raided she realised it wasn't a dream after all, he really was gone. 

She quickly got dressed and wiped away the annoying dribble of blood from her face. She looked for, and quickly found her car keys. She jumped in, heading straight to CTU, knowing that the only way she would ever find Tony was with Jack's help.

* * *

Kim ran over to where Jack stood with a worried look across her face. 

"Dad what's going on?" she asked. 

"I think CTU is going to be attacked. Why aren't you in the shelter?" 

"Look Adam told us what you said to do, but all of us, Scott and Chloé as well, have decided that were not going to hide away, while Adam's trying to get the communications back up and filter the barrier out. If all four of us work on it, we can do it faster." 

"Look Kim, I don't think I want you here when there's a threat okay, I just don't like the idea." 

"How do you even know there will be an attack, other than you saw something that looks like a sniper?" 

"There is definitely going to be an attack, the question is when. We have spotted an other sniper by the west exit, and Baker has a van in his sights, where an unknown number of combatants are waiting." He said, stress present in his voice.   
  
"Well, the faster we get communications back up, the faster we'll get help." She said, knowing she had won the argument. 

"Fine, all four of you, go to the field ops department, it's safer up there, more closed off, Chloé will sort out your stations. But as soon as this attack goes down, I want you to hide in my office, okay Kim?" 

"All right." She said nervously, before going to the others and informing them of what was happening. Jack watched her leave for a second, before radioing Baker. 

"Any movement?" 

"None yet." 

"All right, meet me by the tactical room, we need to be prepared." 

"Yes sir." Baker replied.

* * *

Tony felt the car come to a stop, and seconds later the boot was opened and he could feel arms pulling him out. He was carried off into a room, and placed on a bed or some sorts. He could feel the bag come free of his face, but instantly he was blindfolded, and duct tape placed over his mouth. His feet and hands were bound, and Tony realised, that there was no way he could get out of here on his own, somebody would have to find him. 

John was leaning his large muscular frame against the wall watching his men work, he wanted to make sure nothing went wrong, he was getting paid big for this job and couldn't afford mistakes. Once their hostage was secured on the bed he approached with a syringe in his hands, filled with a liquid which would keep Tony out for a while, just incase he tried any tricks. 

Tony felt large hands on his bare arms, and could feel them pulling up the short sleeve of his maroon T-shirt. He could then feel a sharp prick in his arm, and he knew what was happening to him. Minutes after he was sound asleep, and would stay that way for some time.

* * *

Jack and Baker stood side by side, facing the cabinet containing weaponry. Both were wearing flack jackets, and had already loaded up on guns, clips and a combat knife each, just incase it came down to one on one combat. Jack told Baker to get in his position, near the back exit on the lower floor. Jack would be on the upper floor behind the railing, he would be able to get them by surprise once Baker opened fire on them. The only problem was Jack wasn't sure he wanted to draw attention to the upper floor, as round the corner four analysts, one his own daughter, were trying to filter out their barricades they had placed in the access. 

Baker broke into a jog once down the stairs, he wanted to be in position before they attacked. Jack had told the doorman to stay their and act as though everything was normal, they didn't want the enemy to know they were prepared as they would loose their element of surprise. He went back to the cabinet next to the one containing weapons, and grabbed four more vests. He carried them round to the little desk where they were scrambling away on all sorts of different technology Jack didn't understand. 

"I want each one of you to wear one of these to be on the safe side." He explained as he passed them around. "Once me and Baker engage in combat with the enemy, I want you to get into my office, seal it off and hide. All of you." 

"Shouldn't we continue our communications, I mean, if we stop trying then there's no way to stop them attacking." Asked Scott, the dark haired man. 

"You can continue from my office computer, the only reason why your not in their is because the access is limited and there's only one terminal. Any questions?" He asked, lastly. 

Everyone looked down, all having questions, but knowing Jack wouldn't have the answers.   
  
"Good." He replied, before turning and heading through to his position. Kim watched him retreat with a weary expression on her face. 

Jack waited, crouched down next to the stair case. His position allowed him to see everything clearly, but kept him concealed from others. As he was watching he noticed how deserted and quiet CTU was, he had never seen it so empty before, except after the day of the assasination attempt on Palmer. To stop thoughts from that day creeping back in his mind, his radio crackled, it was Baker. 

"Jack, there's movement from the van, their coming for us."

* * *

Review!


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

Michelle sped down the deserted roads towards CTU, desperate to get their and get help finding Tony. She turned down another road and which led straight to CTU, but instead of heading down in she pulled her brakes on and parked up, trying to look discreet. All the way to work she had passed not a single car. Now, directly outside CTU she could see two vans and another black car with them, and men outside the building, speaking into radios, with automatic weapons. Something was not right their and it did not take a genius to work it out. Panicking she pulled out her small mobile from her blue jacket pocket. She frantically dialled the numbers to warn Jack what was going on outside. 

Network out of order, the computerised voice told her, they had been jammed. Michelle wondered what to do now, she didn't have a clue. She guessed there were at the very least 10 men outside, and almost certainly fewer than 5 field ops in, probably not more than that in total personnel for the whole building. It didn't matter what she was thinking of doing now, as one by one the men entered through the main doors, guns raised and ready for action. Now scared out of her mind, Michelle closed her eyes and prayed, not for Tony, but for the people inside CTU. From the looks of things it was going to get messy.

* * *

Inside the building Jack waited patiently, his gun held tightly, resting against his shoulder for a tick grip on the stock. He kept reminding himself that he was to wait for Baker to open fire before he did, they had to be distracted so he could take them out easier. He slowed his breathing down, hoping to make it as calm as his pulse was. His hands were steady and he was ready to battle.

* * *

Down the corridor from Jacks position, the four continued to try up-link communications, unsuccessfully. Still, they worked on silently, all praying for a brake to come through the technology. Suddenly, a loud explosion thundered though the silence, making all four jump. The attack had begun, they all looked up at one another before heading to Jacks office as quickly as possible, Kim held her fists tightly as she did this, her nerves getting the better of her, she wanted to brake down and cry, she just knew something bad was going to happen. They reached his office in seconds and locked the door behind them and tinted the windows so they enemy wouldn't know they were there.

* * *

The explosion erupted in the entrance way, Jack thought. It had taken him off guard but he was back in position now. He grimly realised that they had grenades, and that the door man probably was no more. As he thought this he saw a long line of men dressed entirely in black run into CTU, weapons drawn, ready to kill. Jack counted 12 men as they snaked there was through the building looking for resistance. 

As though on que, Baker opened fire, taking out the first in the line of combatants. He let out a squeal as the first bullet ripped through his arm, no sound was made when the second on hit him, and he fell to the floor lifelessly. The other soldiers began firing in the direction Baker was hiding, Jack knew it was his time to join in the fun. 

He stood up for a second, firing two shots, taking a man out. Before the men had a chance to see where the shots had came from, he was well hidden. He then fired a round off, not sure it if he had hit anything or not, this time he stayed in his hidden position, he wasn't going to give off his position just yet. He watched for a few seconds as the soldiers got closer to Bakers position. He knew he had to reveal himself now or Baker would be killed. He dropped the AK47 onto the ground and picked up two glocks, one in each hand as he stood up firing bullet after bullet into the men's direction. He watched as some fell to the ground and others fired back. 

One of the attackers laid on the floor, having been wounded by Jack in the leg. He reached into his pack and pulled out a grenade. 

Jack fell back to the floor as he reloaded the weapons. As he stood back up he looked over to Bakers position to see him take a bullet in the head. This stopped Jack. He was stunned. He tried to continue firing his gun but his fingers wouldn't pull on the trigger, the image of Baker falling to the floor dead captivated his mind. He stood at the top of the stairs shocked, he couldn't move, he just stared in shell shocked silence. The movement of the CTU agent confused most of the men. They didn't fire, they watched him, he looked lost, out of it, like he had lost his mind. He just stood their, the two guns held loosely at his side. 

The injured man still lay on the floor and he saw his chance. He pulled the pin from the grenade and flung the instrument into the air towards Jacks position. Jack saw it out of the corner out of his eye and turned to watch it, he felt no need to move. The grenade flew through the air until it turned into a huge, deafening explosion. Jack was standing relatively near the thing when it exploded and the force of the blast threw him from his feet and down the stairs into the main floor. The glass windows upstairs erupted, glass spraying in all directions, lumps of plaster and concrete flew from the walls into the air. The grenade had taken out a good chunk of CTU. 

The soldiers pulled themselves up from the floor and began to search the area. Jack was laid face down near the bottom of the remaining stairs leading to field ops. He looked around from the floor, half conscious. His clothes were covered in dust and cement and other matter, as was his hair. Mixed in with this was his blood. His left side of his chest and arm seemed to have taken the impact of the blast. He could feel a stinging and burning sensation run through him which made him want to be sick. He could also feel blood flowing freely down the left side of his face too. Jack looked up groggily, trying to comprehend what had just happened, he tried to move but couldn't, sharp shots of pain ran throughout him, he guessed he had broken something. He laid still until the pain became too hard to take, making him pass out. Two of the men saw this and grabbed his arms and legs and dragged his unconscious form out to the van waiting. 

One more package and they could go back to base.

* * *

In Jacks office, Adam and Chloé frantically pushed buttons, Scott was watching over their shoulders, he was biting his nails. Kim was sat on the couch, trying to hold back the tears, there certainly was something big going on downstairs and she hoped Jack wasn't dead. 

None of them mentioned the gunfire, screams of pain or explosions they had herd, they pretended it hadn't happened. Chloé was becoming increasingly frustrated with this, and she snapped. 

"Fine! I'm going to see what's happening if your going to ignore it!" 

"What? Don't be stupid, were nearly through the barrier!" yelled Adam, fed up with her strange personality. 

"I'm going! I want to see if there still here, okay!" As she walked she saw Kim looking at her worriedly. "You should be thanking me Kim, I'm doing you a favour." With that she left the office, surprising everyone with another one of _those_ comments that you only really herd from her. 

Chloé stepped out of the office to see the remains of their building. She reached the top of the destructed stairs and looked around at the mess with a hand over her mouth. "Mr. Chappelle is going to be so angry." She gasped. lol. 

One of the men watched as a woman came to the top of the stairs. She seemed unaware of the possibility that the enemy may still have been there. He rummaged through his pockets and pulled the photograph he had been given out. He looked up at the girl, to confirm, it was Chloé O'Brien. With that he raised his gun and fired, hitting her in the forearm. 

Chloé screamed out in pain as the bullet hit her in the arm. She lost her balance and tumbled down the stairs. Once she had come to a halt she sat up and held her arm tightly, tears in her eyes from the pain. The man walked up to her with his gun out. "You will come with us." With that two other men hooked an hand around each arm and led her out of CTU.

* * *

Michelle sat in the car, no longer praying but gasping. She had watched as badly injured Jack was dragged out of CTU, looking very worse for wear. But what shocked her more was that five minutes after Jacks capture, Chloé was also taken out at gun-point. 

"What do they want with her, she's not even field ops?" She asked herself. 

She was past scared now, she was angry, her college, friend and husbands capture, all in the same night was more than a coincidence. She watched as the two vans pulled away and then started up her engine. Waiting a few minutes to create distance, she drove off, following them.

* * *

He he, hope you liked that, God, Chloé makes me chuckle, she really is a social outcast! 


	5. Chapter 5

In the back of the van, sat Chloé. Her eyes were squeezed shut as she tried to block out the incredible pain in her arm and comprehend what was happening. For the first time she opened her eyes and looked around. She saw a man sat in the back wearing all black, he could barely be seen, yet his silver gun shined out like a star, making its presence known. Looking past the man with the gun she swept her eyes over to the front of the van, where she saw a figure laid there face down. Her first thoughts were that whoever it was did not look good, was covered in blood and dust; was the person dead? Seconds later her sense kicked in and she realised who it was. 

"Jack?" She gasped, barely a whisper. 

"Don't move." Said the man with the gun, staring menacingly at her. Chloé didn't need to be told twice, she just stared at Jack, trying to make sure that it really was him; and more importantly, if he was alive.

* * *

Michelle followed the vans and watched as they came to a stop. She wasn't sure where they were, but the vehicles had parked in front of a large warehouse like building. The vans waited a few minutes before the big metal doors opened, allowing them through. They closed immediately after. Michelle rubbed a weary hand across her forehead and dialled the number for Division. She spent a few minutes on the hold, until Chappelle's sleepy voice came over the line. She told him what had happened, and he came to the same conclusion, there was no coincidence. Michelle was told to keep the line open, so they could get a trace on the location and send a strike team there.

* * *

Inside the building the men began to depart from the second van. John, stood watching this, patiently. He counted the men as they got out, and noticed there were only five men left. He sighed, tried to hold his temper and headed over to the main man there, James, who had driven the first van, carrying the hostages. 

"Where are the others?" John asked, knowing perfectly well they were all dead. 

"Sir, there dead. They were expecting our attack, they were well prepared." 

"Well prepared? well prepared?!" He yelled in James' face. "Tell me how two men can be well prepared against an attack of 12 men!" 

James looked down at his feet, not knowing how to respond. 

"Where are the two packages? You did do that part right, I assume?" 

"Yes sir. There in here." He motioned to the van as he said this. 

John walked briskly to the van and flung the doors open, seeing a frightened Chloé first, then the figure, who he assumed was Jack Bauer. 

He turned back to James. "Move them down to the facility, place them with the other man, then clear this place out, I have no doubt they can track the vans, but they will never find the trapdoor to the station underground. I will be down to see our visitors shortly." He smirked. 

"Right away." James turned around and began barking orders to his men. One man grabbed Chloé and roughly hurried her across the warehouse floor, as two men dragged Jacks body across the floor behind Chloé and the guard. Chloé turned her head and saw this, but that was the last thing as a black bag was thrown onto her head, blocking her vision. 

She was roughly guided for a while, until she was pushed into a room where she fell on the floor. A hand pulled the bag off and she looked around, watching as the two other men laid Jack on the floor and handcuffed his right wrist to the pipe of a radiator. 

With that the three men turned to leave, and Chloé shouted, "Where are you going? You cant leave me here! Iv been shot, I may need medical attention." 

One of the men turned and glared at her, shaking head his in disbelief at what she had just said. With that he left the room and pulled the steel door shut, she herd it lock behind them. 

Angrily, she looked around the room, for anything that may make the pain in her arm go away. She noticed the room was reasonably small, concrete walls, concrete floor, an old rusty radiator and a flimsy mattress. It was then she noticed the figure on the mattress. Tony. It appeared that his hands were restrained behind his back, his feet were also tied. She got up from her position on the floor and approached him, the blindfold concealing part of his face. She stood by his side and pulled the blindfold off; he didn't flinch he remained still, his eyes closed, his breathing a steady pace. She knew he wouldn't be sleeping so soundly in a situation like this and guessed he was drugged. 

Confused as to what was happening, she backed away into the wall and slid her back down it until she was on the floor. She rested her arm on her stomach and held it tihgtly as she fought back the tears. Something big was going down, and she was part of it. 

Trying to pull herself together she got the her feet and went over to Jack to try and see if there was something she could do for him. She knelt by him, but before she had a chance to do anything the door was flung open. A large man with a lean but stocky build entered the room. He entered and looked around the seemingly impressed with himself. 

"You are Chloé O'Brian?" 

"Yes." She answered quietly. 

John flipped open his mobile, and dialled Dan's number. 

"It's me. We have the entire package. Your all clear to go."

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

Michelle was still waiting in her car when her mobile began to ring. 

"Michelle Almeida?" She answered. 

"Michelle its Ryan. The teams almost there. Iv just arrived at CTU, I'm going to question what's left of the staff, see if we can get any leads." 

"Is everyone okay there?" She asked, sensing him hiding something in his voice. 

"No. Baker and the doorman are both dead." He paused a moment, for effect, not concern. "Look, SWAT is on its way, I want you back here, so we can finish filtering out the barrier, and then check all security footage." 

"Okay, should I call some more agents in to help?" 

"No. CTU is pretty much wrecked, looks like some explosions went off, were going to have to keep personnel down to a minimum or Division will close you down. 

"Ok, I'm on my way now." She ended the call and sighed, before starting the car up and driving off, not wanting to leave the location where Tony may be, but not having a choice either.

* * *

Chappelle hung up and looked around the room. The stairs to field ops were practically blown in, Scott, Adam and Kim had to climb down them, which wasn't an easy task. Chappelle had told the three of them to wait in a holding room together until he had decided what to do. He slowly paced around the room, looking at the chunks of plaster and cement on the floor, mixed with blood and empty shells from the hundreds of bullets that had been fired. The dead bodies had all been removed, however their chalked outlines were still there, the appropriate photographs had been taken yet nobody had bothered to remove the dead men's outlines. The forensic team had been and gone after collecting all of the relevant information, so now it was just himself and the three terrified analysists. He hadn't yet told them about Chloé and Jack, he had decided he would get Michelle to tell Kim about Jack, she was the person who usually broke bad news to her, why should tonight be any different?

* * *

John hung up the phone and turned and went back out of the door to speak with the two men he had posted there. He turned to Mark and said, 

"Go get me some water. Now please." The man left and quickly returned with a large bottle of water. John took this from him and told him to go find a first aid kit from somewhere. He then turned and went back into the room and closed the heavy door behind him. He looked at Chloé who was still clutching her arm, sat by Jack on the floor.   
  
"Stay where you are." She nodded, fear visible on her face. 

John walked over to Tony and noticed that the blindfold had been removed, but decided not to say anything. He poured some of the water onto Tony's face and he came round gasping and confused looking disorientated, but when he saw John again he remembered what had happened to him. He blinked a few times getting the water out of his eyes and tried to sit up, but the restraints prevented him from doing so. John stepped aside and said, 

"We have some visitors." 

Tony looked across the room and saw first Chloé, then Jack. After a moment he managed to et his words out. 

"What do you want?" 

"What do I want, with you and your friends? Nothing Tony, absolutely nothing." His tome was patronising. 

Tony stared at him, trying to understand what he meant, but before he could ask him John had began to untie his feet. Once finished he looked up to him, "I am going to untie your hands, if you try anything you will get a bullet through your heart. You understand me?" 

Tony nodded, he understood. Despite the threat he wanted to attack this man, but he couldn't risk it with Chloé and Jack in the room. He wouldn't risk being a hero incase it backfired on them. 

John untied his hands and he began rubbing his wrists, getting some circulation in them he asked, "What have you done to Jack?" Now seeing the state of him. 

Chloé sat looking from the man to Tony, feeling a little angry that Tony didn't seem concerned that she too, was wounded. 

"I have don't nothing to him, now I'm leaving you three alone, and I promise you, try anything, and I mean anything at all, and you will live to regret it, if you live at all." 

Whilst John was making his threats the soldier Mark entered the room and interrupted, "Sir, the first aid kit you requested." 

"Thank you." He replied grabbing the large kit from him, before tossing it to Tony, who caught it. 

"Fix him." He said, before turning to leave. Before he could do so, however, Chloé yelled out, "What about me? Iv been shot!" John turned up and glared at her before saying to Tony, "Find a way to shut her up." With that he left and the door locked behind him. 

After John had left, Chloé whined, "Tony what is going on? Why do they have me here?" 

"How the hell am I supposed to know Chloé?" He asked, trying to remain calm and keep his voice down. 

"Okay, okay, you know Tony, there's no need to take it out on me, it isn't my fault were here!" 

Tony looked at her, in his head he was telling himself he shouldn't get angry at her remarks, she was weird, and it was her way. Taking a deep breath he said, "Chloé, I'm not taking anything out on you. Now what happened to Jack?" He checked his pulse as he said this, and saw it was there, but was irregular. 

"I don't know, I was in his office with the others trying to block out some interference which was stopping communications in out computer signals.. There must have been a huge fire fight because all we could hear was guns and explosions. It died down after a while so I went to see what was happening and someone shot me and took me to a van. When they put me in Jack was there already like this." 

"Okay, were going to have to clean him up, let me see your arm first." He could tell she was happy he said this, as though she was glad someone cared about her well being. Tony felt guilty as he thought this, it didn't seem many people cared for her, just because she was different. 

Chloé held her breath as he examined the wound, he decided that it hadn't done too much damage and looked though the first aid kit, found some bandages and wrapped one around her arm tightly to stop the blood, and hopefully minimise the pain. 

Once he had finished he asked, "How's that feel?" 

"A lot better... um... thanks." 

"Sure," he replied while rooting through the large zip bag. He pulled some of the contents and found more bandages, wraps, tape, disinfectant, many other things, but no painkillers like he had hoped for. He looked to Chloé, "Have you had any medical training?" 

"I'm a computer analysist, not a doctor Tony." 

Tony bit his tongue, trying not to let her absurd comments get to him. "Well Iv only had the basic three weeks training course, and that was about 5 years ago, so your going to have to help me. Erm....." He broke off while he tried to remember what he was supposed to do. " So, first we need to clean the wounds, so they don't get infected. Were gonna have to get his shirt off...." He seemed embarrassed at this and looked to Chloé, hoping she'd help him out. 

"All right." She said, sensing he was uncomfortable doing it himself. She began to undo the buttons but found it easier just pulling it off, the rips in it had damaged it enough. She struggled getting the right sleeve off the cuff, but managed to rip it off. Then she began taking the left side off, but half way through she saw the state of his arm and that side of his chest and she backed away gagging. 

"I can't deal with blood Tony." She explained, backing away, now pale. 

Tony sighed and took over where she left off. He had to admit, the sight made himself feel queasy. The far left of his chest had a burn mark near his rib cage and above it, the skin looked like it had ripped itself off in places and was bleeding profusely. He held his breath and began taking the arm out, and found that there were some burns there too, as well as cuts. He struggled with the sleeve as he found it melted into his skin in places. He took a deep breath trying not to cringe as he yanked the material from his arm the best he could. The material ripped away taking pieces of skin with it too. As Tony did this a low groan of pain came from Jack. Tony and Chloé both jumped when they herd him, and they thought maybe he was waking up. 

"Jack... can you hear me, it's Tony." No reply. Tony actually felt a little relieved that he was still out, it would be better for him, he thought, judging by the looks of his arm alone, he was going to be in agony. 

He grabbed some wipes and began gently cleaning at the blood on his chest and arm, but was careful to stay away form the burns, he didn't want to aggregate them. Once he had done this to his body he repeated the action on the left side of his face. Once Tony had got the blood away he was relieved to see the only damage to his head was a gash above his ear on the side of his head, from where his head had connected with the floor after his fall. 

Tony grabbed a large plaster like pad and placed it carefully over his head wound, stopping the bleeding. He then grabbed the large water bottle the man had left, and poured some over the burns on his arm and chest, hoping it would help. He then looked through the kit for some kind of cream that would help but found none, it was a basic pack. The best thing he could find was a disinfectant spray, so he sprayed that all over the wounded flesh and then proceeded to bandage everything up. 

Chloé watched Tony as he continually wrapped the bandages around Jack's arm, covering it from his wrist to armpit. He bound it thickly, and as Chloé watched she could see the fear in his eyes, and also the pain. 

"He is going to be okay, isn't he?" She asked, seemingly concerned.   
  
"I don't know. But he has more chance if we stop the bleeding and try heal the wounds." 

He finished with the arm, which now looked like it could belong to a mummy. He looked confused. "How do you think we should cover these ones?" He asked, motioning to the chest. 

"I'd wrap the bandages all the way round his stomach, it will make it tighter than sticking those pads on them, I guess." 

Tony nodded agreeing while checking there were enough bandages. "Sit him up and I'll put them all the way round." 

Chloé struggled to pull Jack up, not knowing where to hold, but she managed it and Tony wrapped the bandages round, covering everything that needed to be. As they did this, again Jack moaned, but it was louder this time. They gently laid him back on the floor and Tony took the remains of his shirt and put it under his head. He then got up and began looking around the room. 

"What are you doing?" Chloé asked. 

"Looking for a way out of here." 

"Yes but the man said that if you try anything-" 

"I know what he said damnit! But we can't just sit here and wait for him to kill us." He yelled, angry. 

"He won't kill us they have taken us for a reason." She yelled back, equally angry. 

"Yes, and once they have finished with us, what do they do then Chloé? Or suppose you are right, they do need us, are we going to just wait here until eventually Jack dies?" 

Chloé looked to the floor not liking his actions but not wanting to argue either. She got up and sat on the bed, trying to clear her thoughts. Tony found nothing that could be of help, so he went over to Jack and tried to get his handcuffed arm off the radiator, as Chloé stared at him with a look telling him she didn't agree with his actions. Tony ignored her, he thought that Jack would wake up soon, and if they were going to escape he would need to free.

* * *

John sat in front of the two screens, one watching the factory, the other was surveillance for the room the hostages were in. He smiled as he saw the SWAT team that was searching the floor above them look defeated. Unable to find anything they began to leave. 

He smiled and his phone rang, it was Daniel. 

"Sir." He answered. 

"Everything okay on your end?" The harsh voice asked. 

"Fine." 

"Good, the attack will be in motion over the next few hours, and it will be successful." He laughed. 

"Yes it will. Should I inform the guests of the reason for their detainment?" He asked, hoping he said yes so he could rub it into their faces. 

"Yes, I want them to know exactly what's going on." He said before hanging up the phone.

* * *

Hope you like this chapter, tried to make it long! Review and tell me your thoughts!


	7. Chapter 7

In the CTU holding room, Kim sat sandwiched between Scott and Adam on one side of the table, Chappelle sat opposite them. They weren't in the room to be restrained like the usual occupants were, but it was one of the few rooms left undisturbed after the fire fight, so they chose that one. Chappelle was briefing them, and getting frustrated, because they had no information what would help him solve this mess quickly before Division started breathing down his neck. Just as he was about to make his anger known to them, the ringing of his mobile prevented him from doing so. He looked annoyed, but pulled it out and answered it. 

"Chappelle." He answered, sounding bored. From the look of his face, he had just receive even worse news, but he tried to hide his confusion and frustration, though Kim could see this as she watched him. He nodded into the phone and said goodbye, before hanging it up and placing it back into his inside pocket. 

"Who was that?" She asked, always wanting to know which way the ball was rolling. 

"Nothing. Now, do any of you have anything you would like to add before I ring Brad?" 

The three looked at each other to confirm their answer and Adam replied, "No that's everything." 

"Okay. I want you three to keep filtering out this barricade so we can get a satellite up-link. It's vital you brake through this wall otherwise we will never catch up." 

They were excused and they all filtered out of the room. Kim was the last out, she knew something was wrong, where had Chloé and her father disappeared to? She was going to ask Chappelle but something told her not to, he looked stressed, and she didn't want to be in the way when he had a fit to make himself feel better, like he usually did in these situations.

* * *

Tony was still crouched by Jack trying to get the cuff from the rusty radiator. He thought he had made some progress, and maybe, if he tried long enough he would get Jack's arm free. He stepped away and stood by Chloé, he asked her, "How's your arm?" 

She glared at him, "Like you really care, all your bothered about is Jack!" 

Tony sighed and looked down at her, "Of course I'm worried about you, and Jack, and me! But Jack is in much worse shape than you, okay! Aren't you worried about him?" He asked, trying to control himself, 'how could one person be so self centred', he thought? 

"Yes I am worried about him Tony! Geez, what do you think I am some robot or something!" She yelled. 

Tony clenched his fists to control his anger, there really was no winning with her. Before he could reply to her last statement though, he herd a low moan of pain come from Jack. 

Both Chloé and Tony spun their heads round rapidly, to see him still unconscious, but his face seemed to look more pained that before, it no longer looked peaceful. Tony moved to go over to check on him. 

"I think he is going to wake up soon." Tony informed Chloé. 

"Is that good or bad?" She asked, unsure what he was implying. 

"Both I guess. At least if he's awake, its progress. But I have a strong feeling he is going to wish he stated asleep." 

As he said this, again a pained sound escaped from Jack. Before either of them could say anything more John entered the room. He held his gun out, as a precaution, to make sure Tony didn't try anything. 

"Tony would you mind taking a seat there by your friend?" He said, pointing the gun at him and motioning for him to sit by Chloé. Tony complied and sat on the mattress next to her, hoping she would keep her mouth shut, and just once in her life, do the rational thing. 

"Would you like to know why you are being detained here? Surely you are curious as to why you three individuals have all been taken here? I am thinking that you are probably a little bit curious?" He laughed to himself, he loved having power, and loved to flaunt it even more. 

"Well, it's going to be a bomb down in L.A. today." He broke off to laugh at his metaphor, despite how lame it sounded. 

"What?" Yelled Tony, jumping up. 

John kept the gun pointed at him steadily. "A bomb. In L.A. Today. Nothing too fancy for the authorities, but still deadly. It is a very large bomb, in the centre of a largely populated area. Which, is why we have you three. Without you three at CTU, they will not stop the bomb. Without Tony Almeida, the head of CTU, they will slow down, not having there leader there, to consult things with wont they?" He asked rhetorically. Tony closed his eyes as he realised why they were there. 

"And without Chloé, one of the best computer experts in the whole of L.A, certainly the most talented in CTU. There going to struggle without there key analysts. And of course, the amazing Jack Bauer. How they cope without him. saving the day every single time? It's simple, they wont!" He broke off laughing again. 

Tony was angry, but before he could react Jack made yet another sound, this one like all the others, held the amount of pain he was in, whilst unconscious. Everyone turned and looked to see it he was awake, which he wasn't, yet. 

"Ahhh...." He breathed before going to stand by Jack leaning against the cold wall. "I see you have fixed you friend, like I asked." 

"I think he is hardly fixed." 

"At this very moment, would you say that he was going to die or live?" He didn't look like he'd be bothered by which answer he received, it didn't matter to him. 

"I don't know. If he gets to a hospital now he'd probably live." Tony tried. At this John began laughing, "Nice try, but I'm not sending him anywhere, he is fixed enough, for now." 

"He is going to need something for the pain, or that alone will kill him!" He said desperately 

John looked like he was in deep thought, and replied, "We'll see, I may give him something later." 

Tony cringed as he herd Chlo's voice, yet again, she interrupted. "Well what about me! Iv been shot and I think I may need something for the pain in my arm!" 

John laughed at her and bluntly said, "I am taking an educated guess that you don't socialise very often." 

Chloé said nothing but screwed her face up, she looked hurt, as though she had been insulted by a friend. She didn't seem to notice this was indeed the truth. 

"Anyway, as much as I would love to stay and shoot the shit with you, I really must get back to work. But don't worry, my business associate will be coming to speak with you shortly, once he arrived." He left, and once again, the dull lock could be herd as the door was closed. 

Tony sat back down by Jack, and closed his eyes, feeling defeated.

* * *

Michelle walked briskly into CTU, or what was left of it. She held her head high, despite her worry for Tony, and her other colleagues. She was not very far into the building and she stopped from shock, and slowly looked around the remains of the building. 

"...Jesus..." She whispered. 

"Michelle." She herd Chappelle spit from behind. 

She turned around to face him, "Yes Ryan." 

"Do you want to tell me what the hell is going on?" He shouted. 

"What are you talking about?" She asked, confused. 

"The location you gave the SWAT team. They searched that warehouse top to bottom, found nothing Michelle, not a thing." 

Michelle gasped, "What? I saw them, I followed them there, they were definitely there. Have you checked satellite footage?" She asked. 

"No, we still can't get through. It shouldn't be much longer though." 

She nodded, still trying to come to terms with what was happening. 

"So, before you and I review the security footage to see how CTU ended up looking like a war zone, I need you to speak to Kim Bauer." He stated. 

"Speak to her about what?" 

"Jack. I haven't told her. I figured it would be better hearing it from you." 

She sighed, "Fine, does anyone here know about Jack, Tony and Chloé?" 

"No." 

"Fine, I'll speak with Kim, then I'll announce it to the others about Tony, Chloé and Jack." 

"Good." He replied before walking off to make a call. 

Michelle sighed, there was definitely something bad happening.

* * *

Please review! 


	8. Chapter 8

Michelle headed over to the workstation Kim was sat at. 

"Kim, may I have a word with you in the conference room?" She asked, quietly. 

"Is something wrong?" Kim asked, confused. 

"I need to speak with you in private." She replied, itching to say, 'Yes Kim, something is wrong, something is terribly wrong.' However, she remained professional and didn't let her mood get in the way. 

They went inside the conference room and Michelle made sure to close the door behind herself. She walked over to the shiny table and sat next to Kim. Taking a deep breath she said, "I guess you have noticed that Jack isn't here, neither is Tony, or Chloé." 

That was all she needed to say, Kim understood what was happening. "He's gone, they've..." She tried to make sense of it to herself, but her emotions were taking over her. 

"I saw the men who attacked CTU take him and Chloé away with them. Our home was attacked this morning and some people took Tony too." 

"Where are they? Who took them? What do they want?" She asked, her mind going crazy. 

"Calm down Kim, it's okay." 

"It's okay? Why the hell is it okay?" 

"Because whoever took them, did it for a reason." She said, not just for Kim's comfort, but her own. 

"Is he okay?" She asked, feeling her eyes well up to the brim with tears.   
  
"I don't know." She answered honestly, putting an arm around her, seeing the tears that were in her eyes, trying to come out, but she wouldn't let them fall. She had to be strong. 

"What can I do?" She asked, wanting to help. 

"Stay here until you feel a little better okay? There's nothing you can do until me and Chappelle have gone over the security footage. I'm going to see him, after Iv told the Adam and Scott about our missing agents." 

Kim sighed. "It's going to be okay, trust me. Ill come and find you when I need your help." Michelle smiled, hoping she had reassured her enough so she could get back to work. 

Kim watched as Michelle stood up smiling at Kim. Then she saw her briefly wipe at her eyes, trying not to let Kim see. Kim felt guilty, for Michelle was trying so hard to make her feel better about her Dad, when her husband is in the exact same situation. 

"Michelle.. are you okay?" She asked, now concerned. 

"Ill be fine Kim, thanks." With that she turned and left Kim alone in the conference room, thoughts filled with worry. 

Michelle left the conference room and headed directly over to the two reminding workers here. She approached them and didn't bother putting up the, 'everything's fine' front she had with Kim, they could handle it. "Can I have your attention please." 

She waited until she was sure she did, before continuing. 

"Three of our agents are missing. We believe that the men who attacked CTU are the people who have them." 

She turned to leave, when Adam asked, "Who's missing?" 

"Chloé, Jack... and Tony." 

"What?" Scott jumped up, spilling forth questions and queries. 

"Please. This is the only information we have. Keep working on the filter, I will see you when we know more on the situation." 

With that she left heading over to Tony's office, where Chappelle was waiting for her.

* * *

Tony was still fiddling with the radiator, trying in vain to get Jack's arm free. Chloé hadn't spoken to him in a while, which was great as far as he was concerned. As he worked the silver cuff away he realised he could now get it free, as he had eventually bent the other cuff out of place by adding pressure to it and compressing it against the metal radiator at the same time. 

He sighed as he realised he was going to have to ask Chloé for help, he hoped it wouldn't spark a conversation from her. "Chloé can you help me please?" He asked politely, not wanting to start her off again. 

"Gee Tony.... I don't think I could be of much help, I mean... my arm really hurts." She whined. 

Tony snapped, "Chloé, all I want you to do is stop the cuff from cutting through his arm, while I pull this one off the radiator, 'cos its gonna add a lot of pressure to his wrist. Its not hard, okay?" 

She sighed to herself, always a drama queen and got up onto her feet, before heading over. "Okay Tony, what do you want me to do?" She sounded bored, like it really wasn't important. 

Okay, I'm going to have to force this over the bar, so while I do that I want you to hold this cuff, try stop it from cutting through his wrist. It's going to, but... just try and keep the damage minimal, okay?" 

"Sure," she replied, a weary look on her face. She grabbed the cuff with her good hand and tried to hold it forward as Tony began to pull, stopping Jacks wrist from cutting open from the metal. Sounds of pain were coming from Jack repeatedly now as Tony edged the cuff closer to freedom from the bar. 

"Tony stop it your hurting him!" Yelled Chloé. This surprised Tony, she actually cared for people other than herself? 

"I have to get it off. Just keep a hold of it." He ordered. 

"I'm trying but its not working. You have to stop Tony!" She cried. 

"Shut up Chloé, please, just be quiet!" Tony yelled, no longer able to hold his hurtful words from Chloé, she was sending him crazy. Chloé was quiet, like Tony asked, and moments later, the cuff came free and Jacks arm fell to the floor. One of the cuffs were still attached to his arm, but still, he was now free, it was progress, Tony thought. 

Tony looked up to Chloé with a grin on his face, but saw she was more concerned with Jack. Tony followed her gaze to see him slowly looking around the room, his eyes half open half shut, and a look of pain and confusion upon his face. 

"He is awake." Chloé whispered.

* * *

Hope you understood the whole -getting the handcuff from the radiator- thing! It sounded a little confusing - but I understood it!! Please review, thanks xxx 


	9. Chapter 9

Jack didn't attempt to get up, for some unknown reason he thought it would be a bad idea, and so he went with his instinct and stayed put. He looked around the room slowly, his vision blurry, everything seeming to be playing out in slow motion. He could see he was in a small, concrete room, that contained a mattress and a radiator. Upon further inspection he noticed two of his co-workers kneeling by his side, looking worried. He again, ignored his urge to move, and when he looked down he saw why. His entire torso was wrapped in bandages, as was his left arm. It was only after he saw the bandages that he really felt the pain surge throughout his body. 

Tony was silent as he watched Jack survey the room. He didn't want to startle him, and so he decided it would be better to let him get his bearings and gather his thoughts before they began to bombard him with questions and queries. He watched as Jack saw himself and Chloé, and then looked and saw his own condition. His face began to show the amount of pain he was in, and it was then Tony spoke. 

"Jack.... it's Tony. So... how do you feel?" He knew it was a pretty pointless question but it was all he could muster at that moment. 

"How did you two get here?" He asked, slowly in a croaked voice, trying to hide the pain from being conveyed through his voice. 

"That's not important, how are you feeling?" Tony asked, not allowing Jack to change the issue. 

Giving in he said, "Like hell." His voice was barely a whisper now and his eyes had closed again. Tony wondered if he had fallen back to sleep, so he glanced over to Chloé who had moved away since he woke up. She was sat on the mattress, a thoughtful look on her face. With his eyes still shut, Jack said, "So, how did you end up here? And why are we here? Where are we even?" His words were slow but still showed his determination and need to know exactly what was happening, he needed control. 

"I was asleep, they snatched me from home. They grabbed Chloé from CTU where they got you." He explained. 

At those words Jack remembered everything. The attack at CTU, the grenade, Baker. He felt his eyes well up, but swallowed hard and forced them back down. He would not show emotion in front of his colleagues. He had to remain strong, despite his weakened state. "Baker... he is dead." 

The words stung Tony, but he simply nodded. Chloé gasped from across the room, but that was her only contribution. "Sorry... Jack I need you to tell me everything that happened at CTU, see if we can figure this whole thing out." 

Jack gave the briefest nod of his head, which caused a migraine like pain to shoot down his head. Taking a deep breath, he began to relay the events of what had happened.

* * *

Michelle was leaning against the edge of Tony's desk, as was Chappelle. Both had their arms folded across their chests and both were studying the screen intently, waiting for the attack to happen. At the moment, the camera showed nothing, except in the far corner they could make out what was Jack's shadow, crouched upstairs, waiting for the attack. 

The attackers entered CTU, and Michelle tried hard not the gasp as she watched the chaos unfold through the black and white footage. Chappelles expression seemed bored, until he saw Baker take a bullet in the head. He briefly closed his eyes as the camera showed Baker fall lifelessly to the floor. He shifted his weight over to his other foot and watched as Jack stood their motionless. 

"What the hell was he doing there, trying to get himself killed?" Chappelle shouted, angry at Jacks image. 

"Sir, he is obviously in shock, having see Tom killed!" She replied, her voice equally as angry as his. 

The shouting match came to an end as soon as it had started, as they watched in horror at the image now present on the screen. A small shadow moved through the air until turning into a huge explosion throwing Jack through the air. This time Michelle did let out a quiet gasp, "Jack...?" Chappelle said nothing, just watched as Jack laid still on the floor, until two men dragged him away. 

After this they continued to watch in shock as they saw Chloé come into view, looking around the building aghast, until she was shot, and led away by the same men. After this the attackers left, leaving CTU as a war field, full of bodies and destruction. 

Many thoughts were spinning around Michelle's head frantically, as she tried to make sense of it all. "What the hell is going on Ryan?" She asked, desperation evident through the pleading look in her eyes, as though she thought he actually knew what was happening. 

"Have Kim work up shots of every man on the footage. I want Adam to identify them, and have Scott look up criminal records, associates, everything. Now Michelle. We are going to find these bass and they will pay for what they have down here." He stated, angrily. 

Michelle nodded, thinking how strange it was to hear Chappelle talk this way or seem determined about his work. They had certainly hit a nerve.

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

Jack finished relaying the events slowly to Tony, who was listening intently, trying to and understand more of the situation they were in the middle of. He came to no conclusions, and Jack spoke again. 

"Its obvious these people are planning on something. I mean, they have got the two heads of CTU, and the top programmer. They are going to do something today; something bad." 

Tony felt embarrassed by Jack's remark, he hadn't figured this out, John had told him why they had been taken; yet Jack had easily figured it out in minutes, and in his present condition too. Suddenly Tony didn't feel as confident as he had before, yet he knew he was instrumental in getting them out of their situation - he was the only person capable of doing so. Trying to vent out some of his frustration with himself he sighed. 

"Yea... The man who is keeping us here, John, he's called. He said that we were here because they were planning to detonate some sort of bomb in L.A, sometime today." 

Jack perked up at this new information, he didn't seem to notice that Tony was chewing himself over for not figuring it out. Bringing Tony back to the land of the living from his mental scolding of himself he asked, "What type of bomb... a nuke?" 

"No, no. I doubt it. He said it was something simple, but would still get the job done. Its pure speculation, but I'd guess it will be a basic explosive package, with plenty of C-4 to make sure it blasts away a large radius of land." 

At this, Chloé finally piped in, "How can you be so sure? He may have been lying; this could be a trick so we think its not a nuke!" She seemed panicked, and Jack sighed, kicking himself for mentioning the possibility in front of her. 

"Chloé, are you deaf, of did I not just say it was purely speculation? And, what would they gain from _tricking_ us into thinking is wasn't a nuke? Its not like we can do anything about it stuck in here, can we?" He yelled. 

"Well I'm so sorry for trying to help! You know Tony, you should really work on your people skills!" She screamed over Tony. 

Jack was listening and if he were not in so much pain he would have laughed out loud at this comment. Chloé was complaining at somebody else's people skills, when in fact she had none. Seeing the look of rage on Tony's face he decided to stop the two before they really got going. Trying to sit up he said, 

"Well, we need to get out of here... we can't stop the damn thing while were detained here, can we?" 

Tony was about to argue until he saw the pained expression upon Jacks face as he tried to push himself into a sitting position. Jack let out a grunt of pain and fell back onto his back . He closed his eyes, angry at himself for not being able to complete such a simple task. He was in a lot of pain, and on top of that he was having trouble breathing and he had no strength, feeling weaker than he was previously. He realised he wouldn't be of much help in averting the disaster which was set to happen. 

"Jack.... Jack?" Tony called gently, seeing his friend turn very pale suddenly. Jack opened his eyes slightly, it was all he could muster the strength to do. "Don't move... okay? Your going to make yourself worse." Tony ordered, hoping for once, Jack would follow his orders. Jack slowly nodded his head and allowed his eyes to close again, warmly inviting the darkness in, in exchange for forgetting the pain. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Okay okay I know its short..... I'll try get more up soon; exams are a bummer! 

Review! You have all gone quiet; cat got your tongues?! Please give me your thoughts.... thanks xxx 


	11. Chapter 11

Tony and Chloé had both calmed down now, and had diverted their attention to Jack, whom now looked to be sleeping. Jacks face and neck was accumulating sweat, fast, Tony noticed. 

"What's happening to him?" He asked himself, ignoring Chloé. Chloé took a few steps forward and knelt down by the other side of Jack, keeping her distance from Tony as best she could. She put the back of her hand against his forehead, then gently grabbed his hand, with the empty cuff still around it. Tony watched, wondering what she doing this time. 

"He has a fever." She said simply, putting his hand back down against the floor, shrugging her shoulders as though it was the most normal thing in the world. 

"How do you know?" Tony asked in a mocking tone, sceptically. 

"Tony, I have four younger siblings, all of whom are in my care. They are all pretty prone to illnesses it seems, and they all seem to get fevers on a regular basis." She stopped, not wanting to blow her own trumpet, then decided to continue, wanting to show Tony up. "I could spot one a mile off. Sweating is a main symptom, his hands are shaking which is also a sign. And injuries can trigger them easily." 

"Oh. Well... what do we do?" He asked, feeling a little overwhelmed by her knowledge on the matter.   
  
"There's nothing we can do really. We cant cool him down with anything, so we have to leave him be. Its not serious, just an.... just an inconvenience for him." She smiled as she said this; daring Tony to object to what she was saying. 

"Okay." Was all he said, as he pushed himself up with the help of the wall, and began looking around the room. 

"What are you doing?" She asked, slightly annoyed he wasn't paying any attention to her. 

"I am going to find us a way out of here." Was all he could say, before the big heavy door began to slowly open. Two meant with automatic weapons entered first, aiming them at Chloé and Tony and instructing them to the mattress and ordering them to sit on their hands. Once they complied John re-entered the room, a smug look across his face. 

"Mr. Almeida, it seems your wife smarter than she looks." 

The face that this man had mentioned Michelle enraged Tony, but he said nothing, just stared at him with a deadly glare. 

"Yes, she gave the SWAT teams your exact location." He waited, wanting to build up some hope to his captors, so he could just as easily destroy it. "Yes, they searched the entire warehouse, top to bottom, had sniffer dogs and everything. Yet they were still unable to find the entrance to our underground facility, which is where we are now." He broke off again to laugh. "Yes, they believed you were here, but found nothing. There is no possible way for them to find the hidden entrance. And if they did, only two people other than myself know the code... so..... it looks like you are stuck here. They will not find you. They can not find you." 

"And you are telling me this because...?" Tony asked. 

"I'm not telling you anything, I'm simply informing you of your situation." 

Chloé looked at Tony with an 'I told you so face' for his earlier efforts of finding a way out, but thankfully, she chose to say nothing. 

"Has their been any progress with Bauer?" He asked. Tony thought that it seemed this man was worried about him. 

"Yes. He woke up. But he is in too much pain to stay conscious. You need to give him something for the pain." 

"No I do not." The man said simple. Tony tried to call his bluff. 

"If he does not he will most certainly die. I don't suppose you attacked CTU, moved him here and gave me a medical kit to fix him, if you didn't need him alive for something. So I suggest you get him something, now." 

"Jack Bauer is of no concern to me, he is my associates concern. Therefore I don't really give a damn about his condition ." He broke off, thinking carefully. "However, my associate may comply. You will have to discuss the situation with him when he arrives." 

"Thank you." Was all Tony said. 

"If you are getting something for Jack, you have to get something for me too. I have been shot. My injury is much more serious than his!" Chloé started whining again. 

Tony looked at her aghast, his mind not able to construct a sentence to tell her how selfish she is. But before Tony could say or do anything, John was pointing his gun at her. 

"Chloé, I am finding you very annoying, you are playing on my patience. You are not as valuable as either Tony nor Jack, and once this bomb goes off, I have no reservations against disposing of you. I will readily kill you now, however, I am a cautious man, which is why I am going to wait until my mission is complete. If I hear one more word from your mouth I am going to shoot you in your other arm, then both legs; and leave you to bleed to death. Very slowly, very painfully. Do you understand me?" 

Chloé nodded, not wanting to agree vocally, incase it made him madder at her. Putting his gun away, John left the room and his guards followed him out. 

Chloé remained silent. Tony smiled to himself, happy that for once, that Chloé had learnt her lesson. 

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Hmmm... I'm curious to know if anybody is actually reading this? If you are... review! ;] 

Cheers xxx 


	12. Chapter 12

They men had left over five minutes ago, and so Tony guessed it would be safe to move around again. He didn't ask Chloé anything, he was savouring the brief moments of silence he was encountering from her. 

After searching the room for a second time, it became clear to him that there was nothing they could use to help them, and after what John had said about SWAT not finding the entrance, it made him wonder what they would do if they got free of the room. Would he be able to find a way out? Would he be able to get Jack out in his condition? After a moments thought reality kicked in, they were not going to escape, it was impossible. 

As he thought this another thought hit him, Michelle. He may never see her again. There was also the possibility of her being harmed in the bomb; they had no idea where it was going to detonate, what if she was killed in the blast? If he somehow managed to survive his predicament, would she survive hers? This was all becoming too much for Tony, so he went over to Jack and gently began to shake him awake. 

"Jack... Jack it's Tony..... come on Jack wake up!" He realised just how frustrated he was when Jack didn't wake. 

"Tony what are you doing?" Chloé asked, breaking her short lived silence, looking at him disapprovingly. 

"Were getting out of here." He replied, continuing to shake Jack. 

"It's impossible Tony, were never getting out. Just leave it!" She yelled. 

"If we do nothing, just wait here, then we are not going to find a way out. If we get up and try, at least we have a chance!" He yelled, his voice matching hers. She fell silent, nodding her head as though she had just realised that if they didn't get out she would be killed. She hadn't really thought about that before. 

In a shaky voice she said, "Tony... I don't want him to kill me!" 

"If any of us are going to live through this we need to move, now." 

"Okay." 

Tony nearly jumped when he turned his attention back to Jack and saw he was now indeed awake, he looked groggily at them. 

"You two are like a married couple." He smiled weakly at his attempt to brake to tension up between them. He knew if either of them were going to get out they needed to work together. 

"Jack, we need to get out of here." Tony said, watching him carefully, hoping he would have an answer or an idea. 

"Give me the first aid kit." This was all he said. Chloé passed it to him and he slowly emptied the contents on the floor and sifted through them whilst still on his back, trying to stay awake. He was disappointed to see there were no scissors, but saw something else which could be of significance. He held it up in his hand, 

"This could help." 

"Its a can of disinfectant spray, Jack." Tony said bluntly, wondering if the cut to his head had caused more damage than he thought. 

"That's right Tony. Find a way to get the men guarding the room to come in; surprise them, spray this in their eyes. It will temporarily distract them, long enough for you to take their weapons. Then you can gag them and tie them up with this." He said, motioning to the white tape used to close cuts. 

Tony began to laugh, "Christ Jack... how do you come up with these things?" He was asking himself more than Jack, but Jack gave a small chuckle too, which turned into a cough. Chloé was not amused. 

"You think that will work? Are you mad, your not James Bond! As soon as they enter the room and see what you are up to there going to shoot us all!" 

Jack looked to Tony, rolling his eyes. Tony ignored her comment completely. He gently grabbed Jacks shoulders and tried to pull Jack up. "Come on." Jack tried to pull himself up but the pain erupted through his arm and chest. "Tony.. no." He stammered before placing his other hand against his chest as an attempt to stop the pain. 

Ignoring him Tony tried again, "No Jack, come on, we need to get you up so we can get out of here." Jack tried again but was met with the stabbing sensation again, this time sharper. "No." He said, gasping for breath through the pain. 

"I'm not going anywhere Tony, you two have to go." He gasped, clenching his teeth through the pain. 

"Jack, I'm not leaving you!" He said, his voice breaking slightly. 

"He is right Tony." Chloé said quietly, a saddened look upon her face. 

"What... no..." Tony said, his voice now shacking as he tried to hold in his emotions. 

"Tony... you need to get to CTU. Stop that bomb. I'll be fine." He pleaded, trying to make Tony understand. 

"I'm not leaving you... I .... I ...." Tony paused, trying to hide his emotions. "I can't do this without you..." 

"You have to. Please." The look in Jacks eyes told Tony everything. He knew he had to leave him. 

"I'll come back for you." He said. Jack nodded.   
  
"Start a commotion, or something... anything to get them to open the door. You know what to do after that." He smiled despite the pain, hoping to convince Tony he was doing the right thing. 

"Yea." He looked to Chloé who was looking away from them, but kept sniffing back tears. He sighed, quickly thinking of something, anything to get the guards attention. He glanced over to Jack who looked as though he was already drifting back of to unconsciousness. 

He ran over to the door and began pounding his fists, screaming that Jack wasn't breathing. Inside he was praying that their captors needed Jack enough to see if he was alive or not. He continued to shout and bang, and was shocked when Chloé joined him, shouting for help too. Despite the situation, he smiled to himself. Maybe she wasn't that bad after all, just simply misunderstood. 

The two continued to make a commotion and then stopped. They herd the bulky click of the doors lock snap open, and slowly, the heavy metal slab which was the door, began to open.


	13. Chapter 13

The two armed soldiers pushed the door fully open before entering. They were being very cautious incase it was a trap. They slowly entered and saw two of the hostages looking at them frantically, wanting them to do something to help the third who was unconscious, and apparently not breathing either. The men weren't very well trained, seen as both approached Jack, when one of them should have watched the other two, they didn't seem to nitice that they simply run away through the open door. 

However, this wasn't their intention. One of the two men placed his weapon onto the floor and began to check Jack's pulse. Before he could do so he felt a sudden burning sensation in his eyes. He cried out and began rubbing at his eyes, as did the second man. Tony picked up the riffle that had been discarded on the ground and smashed it against the first mans head, then the second, knocking them both out cold onto the floor. 

Tony herd Chloé gasp when he did so, but he ignored her. He would have killed them, but he didn't want to reveal their location to any other men in the compound. He quickly took the second mans gun and handed it to Chloé who stared at it dumbfounded. He grabbed the tape Jack had earlier pointed out and began to tie the men up together, back to back. Once this was complete he gagged and blindfolded both men. He checked their restraints were tight enough, then looked to Chloé, who was still looking at the gun worriedly. 

"Its a gun. If anyone comes at you, pull the trigger." Was all he said as he pulled the black leather strap over his head and under his arm, securing it around himself. 

He helped her pull it over herself, then they both looked at each other, nervously. They had no idea where to go or how to get out, and they had to leave Jack. Breaking up the uneasy silence that had formed between them he said, "Come on, we need to go." 

They headed towards the door, but before he left Tony turned back to look at the sleeping Jack. He silently promised himself he would come back for Jack, they would all make it. Even if he had to send a team through C.T.U. Jack would return. 

With that he hurried out of the door and slowly pulled it closed behind him. The corridor was long and dark, with no doors or windows leading off to anywhere else. The walls were made of concrete, and they had no choice but to follow the passage. After following it for five minutes, they came to the end and they could either go left or right. Straining to hear anything, Tony thought he could hear noise from the right direction, so he chose to go left. 

Running down this corridor they could see a metal staircase, and underneath it a little sheath to hide. Tony was relieved to see this, as he saw shadows of people coming down the stairs towards them. He silently motioned to Chloé to hide with him under the stairs, and they did so, quietly. 

Minutes later three men dressed in combat wear and passed them, too deep in conversation to even notice them hidden. Once they had passed and the cost was clear, Chloé moaned, "Tony my arm hurts." She was also out of breath from the short distance they had ran. 

"Look, were almost out of here. The first window we see, well break through. Well call C.T.U. and get you to a hospital, okay?" He said reassuringly. She nodded her head, telling herself how brave she was being. 

The two came out of hiding and began to walk up the metal staircase, which resembled a fire escape, cautiously. Tony was in front the entire time, as Chloé was lagging behind. The finally reached the top and Tony realised he had been holding his breath. He saw another dull concrete corridor and leading from it, a door into a room. This immediately gave Tony hope. He held his ear against the cold hard door, listening. He knew it was pretty useless, it was probably too thick to hear through. 

Weighing up the odds he decided to risk opening the door, there may be a phone. Inside the room, a man was waiting for his team to meet him, he was a little early. The door began to open and he got up from the upturned black crate he was using as a seat to greet them. As he saw the two figures enter, he raised his gun to fire, knowing instantly they were hostiles. The man didn't have time to take the safety off before Tony's bullet's cut through him, sending him to the floor in a bloody mess. 

Tony searched them man and was disappointed to see there was no phone or radio, still he took the ammunition. He saw their was a window and smiled, running over to it. Almost immediately his hope was destroyed, when he saw he was on at least the third floor of the building, too high to jump from. Silently and quickly Tony wondered how they had reached this height, when earlier they had been underground. The staircase had been deceiving, he realised. 

He studied the view from the window, and noticed this was the last window on the building, and next to it was a similar looking building, with a rusty escape ladder leading to the floor. He quickly calculated the distance in his mind and realised that if they jumped far enough, they could land on the steps. They could be free. 

He shouted for Chloé to come over and pointed at the steps. He fumbled about with the jerky lock on the window, and had it open full in no time. 

"We can jump. From here to there. We can make it!" He said, excited. 

"What if we don't make it?" She asked, negatively, as usual, her glass was half empty. 

"Then we fall to our death, so we had better make it. Who's going first?" He asked her, impatiently waiting for her to answer. She didn't like the idea of going first and not making it, but also didn't like the though of being here alone and the men finding her. Tony interrupted her line of thought,   
  
"Fine I'll go. Just do exactly as I do... okay?" He nodded, building her confidence. 

Tony took a deep breath and pulled himself up onto the window-ledge. He did not look down. He was crouched on the edge now, looking at his target. He felt himself tense up, and taking another breath he pushed himself up. He felt himself falling through the air as he jumped. He had closed his eyes, scared to see the view of himself falling if he missed. What seemed like hours, but was really seconds later Tony felt his body collide with the fire escape. He opened his eyes and quickly grabbed a step and held it tightly to prevent himself from rolling down them. He stood up and quickly brushed the muck from his maroon T-shirt, which was already filthy. 

Chloé had watched in fear as Tony jumped. She felt her entire body slump with relief as he landed, she was convinced he would fall. She grabbed the ledge of the window with her good arm and pulled her body up. She looked down, which was a mistake as she felt her stomach drop. Tony watched her, the fear evident in her face. 

"Come on Chloé, its easy, there's no way you can miss it!" He yelled over the wind. 

"What if I slip!" She yelled, worried. 

Tony climbed down a few steps, and yelled back, "I'll stop you, come on!" 

Chloé closed her eyes, nodding. She could do this, she had to do this. Taking a deep breath she jumped. 

It was a powerful jump that should have carried her to safety. As her body flew through the air a huge gust of wind blew, throwing her away from the fire escape. Tony watched as though it was in slow motion, he couldn't believe what was happening. The wind had knocked her off course, and now she wasn't going to make it. He ran over to the ledge and threw his arms out, somehow managing to catch her injured arm and preventing her from falling to her death. 

He pulled her up, she didn't say a word, her eyes were tightly squeezed shut and tears were streaming down her face. Finally she realised she was safe, she looked to Tony, enraged. 

"I told you it was not safe! I almost died, and you were pulling on my injured arm!!!" She screamed at him. "Have you got it in for me or something!" 

Tony watched in amusement as she ranted at him, he knew it was from the fear, after all, she had been extremely close to death. Taking a breath Tony said, 

"You finished shouting at me for saving your life!?" There was a hint of amusement in his voice.   
  
"Yeah I'm done." Was all she said, still having a hard time comprehending just what had happened. 

"Good, then we should get going." 

They both climbed down the fire escape and began walking back in the direction of C.T.U. 


	14. Chapter 14

John was in a foul mood. He was standing in his captives cell, and there was only one hostage remaining, and two of his guards tied up. He watched impatiently as a young man fumbled with the tape, attempting to free them. 

"John, Daniel is coming down now." James informed him. 

"Great." John muttered under his breath, Daniel would be here just in time to see everything go to pot. 

Grabbing a bottle of water from another young soldier working for him he twisted the cap off and began to empty it onto Jack. Within seconds Jack jumped awake; trying to comprehend what was happening and why he was wet. It took a few moments for him to get his footing, and as he lay on his back looking at the men groggily he began to smile to himself. Tony and Chloé had escaped. H e looked at the remaining soldier who was tied up and let out a slight chuckle, Tony had gone to town on the tape, they were definitely well restrained. He just hoped they had got out okay. 

"Where are they?" John demanded, staring at Jack. 

Jack looked up at him, defiance searing through his glaze. 

"Where are they?" He boomed, startling one of the young soldiers, who had now freed the last man. 

If he could have moved his arm he would had shrugged, instead he just stared at the angry man. John swung his heavy combat boot into Jacks bandaged stomach, causing Jack to gag in pain. He rolled over onto his stomach to shield it from further abuse and began to cough up blood uncontrollably. Blood had soaked through the bandage in the spot where he was hit. 

"Fine, have it your way." Was all John said as Jack continued to cough up blood. "James?" 

John nodded to him, and James took this as his instruction to proceed. He pulled out a syringe and approached Jack, still coughing. He inserted it in his upper arm and pushed down hard on the plunger. Seconds later Jack lay still, now asleep under sedation. 

James retracted the syringe and backed away, as he did this Daniel entered the room. He was a tall man, at least six foot. He had short blond hair with his fringe flicked up. His blue eyes were piercing, and he had a thick frame, he wasn't skinny, nor lanky, but well built. He looked around, then directly to John, and frown upon his face. Ignoring the introductions Daniel started, 

"What happened here?" His voice was deep and authentic, the type you could easily recognise. 

"Ahem, two of our hostages overpowered the guards and escaped." He said, looking embarrassed. 

"What about him? What happened to Jack?" He asked, John easily recognised a hint of panic and worry in his voice as he approached Jack and wondered why he was bothered. 

"He was at C.T.U. as we had planned. As we predicted, he put up a fight, this was the only way we could take him down." 

Daniel pulled Jack onto his back slowly, and looked at the bandages, the patch of blood that had soaked through, then the blood that had been coughed up on the floor. "This happened recently?" He asked, pointing to the blood on the floor. 

"Yes, he was... being uncooperative. Why are you concerned?" John replied, curious as to why he was so concerned about Jack. 

Daniel didn't reply right away, instead he approached John, and in one swift movement had him pinned against the concrete wall with one hand squeezing hard against his neck, the other had grabbed a fistful of his hair. 

"John, your plan is already crumbling to your feet. Not only did you lose two of our hostages, you disobeyed a direct order. I told you to keep him unharmed, did I not?" His words came out fast and deep, emphasising his anger. 

Still trying to suck in breath John managed to nod his head. Daniel's lips turned up into a smile and he released his iron grip from Johns neck. Instantly he pulled out his Smith & Wesson and put two bullets through John's throat. Once satisfied John was dead, after watching his still body for a few moments, he turned around to face the other soldiers and instructed, 

"Anyone else disobeys me will die. Anyone hurts him and they will die. Are we clear?" The men nodded, nervously. "Good. I'm glad we all understand. Now, what has he had?" 

James came forward. "A simple sedative, he will be out for around half an hour." 

"Okay. We are clearing this place out. I want him in the back of my truck in fifteen minutes. Be careful when you move him. I want everything else left behind, just clear out the men. We will meet at a new location."

"Sir, why change location?" Asked James. 

"Those two agents escaped, I want to be in a more secure location." He said sternly, annoyed the boy had interrupted him. 

"Lets get too it." The men set off to work, and Daniel watched intently as two soldiers manoeuvred Jacks body into a position where they could move him without causing further injury. Once satisfied everything was going smoothly, he left the room to find an empty one, where he opened his mobile. He dialled the number he was most familiar with and waited for the familiar answer. 

"Hello?" 

"Joel, its me. I'm on my way, I've got Jack." 

He waited a moment as he listened to the person on the other end of the line give instructions. 

"Yes, once me and Jack are out, I will detonate it. There will be no survivors or evidence." 

He hung up, and headed to his truck, getting ready to leave. 

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Tony opened the door to C.T.U and let Chloé through first. After the constant whining about her arm throughout the entire journey back he was pleased at the thought of getting away from her. 

"Okay, go straight to the clinic. I'll find Chappelle, try straighten everything out." As Tony said this he stopped as he noticed the sight of the building, or what was left of it. 

"Tony!!!!" 

The scream echoed throughout the large room and pulled Tony from his thoughts. He turned to see Michelle run up to him. He flung his arms around her and the two began to hug each other as tightly as possible. 

"Oh baby I was so worried." She cried. 

"Me too sweet, me too, but I'm fine." 

They pulled away from each other as Chappelle approached. 

"Tony, I see that you and Chloé have returned." He stated. Tony nodded. 

"Then where is Jack?" He asked, confused.   
  
"Ryan, we'd better do this in my office.... I have a lot of information. 

Ryan nodded and headed round to corner to find Tony's office. Once inside he sat down, and began to rely the events back to the two senior agents on site, other than himself. 

Before he had barely started Kim burst into the room. 

"Sorry to interrupt ..." She paused, out of breath from running from one end of C.T.U. to the other. "Tony?!" She exclaimed, surprised at his return. "Is my father back too?" She asked. 

"Erm... no Kim, he's not." He said, trying to smile but knowing he couldn't lie to her. 

Interrupting to prevent Kim from making the next logical connection, that Jack was still captured Michelle asked, "What's the news?" 

"Well, some new faces entered the building and Adam wants to speak to you, he has identified one of them. But that's not the news, the warehouse, it just exploded!!" She cried out, obviously excited and in shock at the same time. 

"What!" Tony asked, stunned. 

"Yeah, the cameras we were able to hack into showed us visual coverage of it all. It just.. blew up!" 

"Okay," Michelle interrupted, not wanting Kim to realise Jack was in there, "Kim, take a break, I'm going to see what Adams got." She turned before she left and looked at Tony, a knowing look, telling him to be careful what he said in Kim's presence. Michelle and Kim left and Tony continued to tell Chappelle about the possible bomb threat. 

She trudged her way over to Adams terminal. Adam looked up, nervously. 

"Where's Kim?" He asked quietly. 

"On a break, what have you got?" She wasted no time, she knew it was something they didn't have to spare. 

He clicked on a few buttons and a image came up on the screen. Michelle noticed the blue eyes and blond hair and he reminded her of Jack for a split second, before she focused her thoughts back onto her task. 

"I put the image through the local server, and it gave me a name. I was unsure about the result, so I ran it through a screener, and pulled up the file on the name and they all matched." 

"So, who is it?" She asked, wondering why he had triple checked the name in the first place. 

"Its a Daniel Bauer... Jack listed as his next of kin. Michelle they're... brothers." 

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	15. Chapter 15

"What?" Michelle asked, shocked at the name. "I didn't even know that Jack had a brother.... this can't be right..." She said, aghast. 

"That's what I thought, but the screener came back with the same result. Should I do a background check and pull up his personal files? There may be more mention of his personal history and it may refer to Jack." 

"Do it. Also, pull up what you can find from Jacks person records, the two may coincide, which would mean they are indeed brothers. I'm going to continue going through Tony's brief with Chappelle, and I need to get LAPD onto that blast." She turned to leave, but stopped short, turning around to face Adam. "Adam ....don't speak of this to Kim, she still doesn't realise that Jack may have been in the warehouse when it exploded..." 

"I know." Was all Adam said, his eyes displaying concern for his co-workers. He gave her a courteous nod, then turned his attention back to the screen and began clicking away. 

Michelle reached Tony office in seconds. She pushed through the door to see Chappelle placing the black phone back into its cradle on Tony's glass desk. 

"Where's Tony?" She asked nervously, already missing him and worrying about him. 

"Relax Michelle, I sent him over to the clinic, to get himself checked out." Michelle wasn't sure, but it actually seemed like Chappelle was genuinely concerned, not something she saw from him often. 

"Oh. Right." 

"Listen, Ive just been on the phone with Howard from LAPD he is going to take care of the warehouse for us, and will send over id's of the perpetrators he finds there. We have something bigger to concentrate on." 

"What? I didn't think there was anything else, other than Jack being missing, but.... he may have been in the warehouse, when... when it exploded.... he may be dead." Michelle briefly closed her eyes as it sunk in, that Jack may be dead. 

"Jack isn't the concern Michelle, I know it is hard for you, but you have got to imagine he was never there, something much bigger is at steak." 

"What?" She asked, confused and a little angry at his remark about Jack. 

"Tony says that the man in control in the warehouse, was gloating about the fact that they are going to detonate a bomb in Los Angeles some time today." 

"What! Well, how credible is this claim? They may have simply been lying to take our attention from something else to distract us. Or simply trying to strike a cord with Tony, to get a reaction." She said, trying to connect everything in her head and make sense of the new information. 

"We have to treat it as though it is credible. And it does make sense, they kidnapped Jack, Tony and Chloé. Without those three C.T.U. would fall to pieces and there is no way we could stop it. Right now we need to complete our identification of the men who are on the video image. We can cross reference that with anything remotely related to this threat, okay?" 

"Yeah..." She replied, her mind still wandering, thinking about what he had said about Jack, Tony and Chloé. Did this mean people didn't think she was a key player at C.T.U? 

"Good. What did Adam find?" 

Michelle hesitated, she didn't know if she should tell him or not. 

"Well what is it?!" He said sternly, annoyance present in his voice. 

"He managed to identify somebody from the surveillance." Was all she said, her mind thinking frantically of a way out of telling him. 

"And?" He asked, impatiently. 

"And, it came up as a Daniel Bauer, Jacks brother it seems. I have Adam checking both backgrounds, make sure it fits." 

"What!" He exclaimed. 

"I know." She said, hanging her head, the possible scenarios running through her mind. 

"What does this mean!" He said, sounding exasperated. 

"I don't know. I guess we will have a better understanding once we get the background information on the two. It could be a simple coincidence." 

Chappelle scoffed at this, and she knew it was a lame attempt at an explanation herself. 

"I'll go help Scott, see what he is doing." 

"Okay, I'm going to update Divison and Langley." 

Once Michelle had left Ryan slumped himself down into Tony's cushion swivel chair. He rubbed at his eyes and let out a sigh. He wondered just what was going on today. 

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Daniel sat in a cold metal chair typing at his black laptop that sat on a table. He had arrived at his location in ten minutes and had no trouble getting their. He had had a hard time getting Jack from the truck to the safe house by himself, and it had tired him out, carrying him body mass through the house into a suitable room. 

At the moment Jack was still unconscious, laid on a bed. Daniel had grabbed some cushions to rest his head on, and had some blankets ready to. Every so often he would glance away from his screen to check on him, making sure he looked okay. 

He continued to type, he was encrypting an e-mail he was sending to Joel, so he would know what safe-house he was at. Once the e-mail was sent he got up and sauntered along to where Jack laid, and carefully sat down on the side of the soft mattress. He looked at Jack and his mind wandered back to his younger days. He was overwhelmed with guilt for his actions; but felt some satisfaction from the thought of straightening everything out with him, and most importantly asking for his forgiveness. He knew Jack had been hurt as a result of his irresponsible actions, not just physically but mentally, he just hoped Jack would be past it, and was ready to give him another chance. 

As he thought this Jack began to cough horribly for a moment, and then slowly opened his eyes. Daniel froze, not knowing what to do. Jack was covered in sweat and his mind was slowly processing his surroundings. 

"Danny?" He asked, his words slurred. 

Daniel didn't move, just stared at Jack, scared to move. Seconds after Jack had called his name he had drifted back to sleep again, and Daniel noticed he had gave a sigh of relief. For the first time he was scared. He wanted Jacks forgiveness, and realised that he may not get it, and that worried him. 

Shaking the thoughts from his head he picked up his phone and called Joel's friend who played a secretary type role for the two. 

"Mickey? It's me......... Listen, I need you to do something for me.................. uh huh.................................. I need you to tell Joel to bring a doctor with him..................... no, no, I'm fine................ it's... yeah...................... okay................... bye." 

He hung up and pulled the metal chair over to the head of the bed and sat, watching Jack. He was an angry person and was often referred to as a machine with no use for human emotions by others, but inside his heart was in turmoil, he needed to fix things with Jack where they went wrong so long ago, he needed his absolution. 


	16. Chapter 16

Daniel sat on his chair still watching Jack, only now he was also watching the old doctor as he attempted to clean the raw and charred skin on Jack's arm and the left side of his chest. The doctor paused to push a stray piece of his frizzy grey hair out of his eye, then removed his silver lined glasses and wiped the lenses. He quickly placed them back on and pushed them up the bridge of his nose before continuing. He looked at the skin and sighed, not knowing what to do for the best. 

"The tissue is badly damaged." He said in a raspy voice, stained from all of the cigarettes he had smoked over the years. It was quite a coincidence, a doctor who knows all too well the effects of smoking, yet still goes through al least twenty a day. 

"Then fix it." Daniel said. He waited a moment, before adding, "Please, just make it better." 

"I will Daniel I will; I just don't know what to do for the best. What he needs is a skin graph and surgery, but we obviously don't have the resources. I can clean it and wrap it, or put some burn substances on it, and leave it without any bandages, I just don't know which one he would benefit from most." He placed his hand under his chin as he thought, clearly torn between the two choices. 

Joel spoke up for the first time since he had arrived. The doctor had unravelled the bandages, revealing Jacks skin. The sight nearly made him sick. "Wrap it." He wasn't saying this from concern, it was simply because he thought he would actually be sick, or faint if he saw the sight of raw and burnt flesh again. 

The doctor looked at Daniel for confirmation before proceeding. "Do it, its got to be less painful." Daniel ordered. 

The doctor began wrapping fresh sterilised bandages around Jacks stomach, then the full length of his arm. "I have to say, he is still going to suffer immense pain once he awakens. I can leave you some pills which will help; but nothing is going to take it away. He needs to be in a hospital." The doctor warned. 

"I know. Thank you." 

The doctor nodded and continued covering the wounds. Jack lay still, oblivious to it all. 

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Michelle sat next to Adam, sighing wearily as she rubbed both of her eyes, the need for sleep creeping up on her. But she could not go home now, not a chance. With an agent missing in action, two others rescued from a kidnap operation, an unexplained explosion and a potential terrorist threat on the city, Michelle knew she would not be leaving any time soon. 

Right now, the only thing on her mind, other that her husband was the mysterious Daniel Bauer, and his relationship to Jack. Looking directly at Adam she spoke, 

"So, what do we have?" 

"Well, it's pretty clean cut - they are brothers. From reading background checks and police reports, I was able to gather a basic gist of what happened. Their parents died in a car accident when Jack was...." He paused to double check the information in his notes, before continuing, " Fifteen. From then on the only living family they had was each other, and so Jack was placed in Daniel's care, who was.. eighteen then. From then on theirs not much, up until two years later. It seems their was some kind of incident, Jacks records show he was hospitalised at the same time a warrant was put out for Daniel. I couldn't find out what happened, though it appears the two have been estranged from then on." 

"Okay, good. I want you to did a little deeper, try find out what happened. Then cross reference Daniel Bauer with every thread we have. We need to know what he is up to, and what he wants with Jack."

"I'm on it." He replied, his head down, already typing away. 

Michelle walked through C.T.U, heading towards the clinic. She had to step over large chunks of concrete that were left from the earlier battle that had destroyed half of C.T.U. 

She finally arrived at the clinic, and instantly saw Tony, who was signing some forms at the main reception desk, signing himself out. 

She sneaked up behind him and snaked her arms around his waist from behind, squeezing him tightly. "Hi sweetie, are you okay?" She asked. 

He pulled her around to face her and kissed her softly. "I am fine. Not a scratch on me. What's happening?" He asked, pulling away to look at her, his love, his life. 

"Jesus...." She trailed off, not knowing where to start. "Well, we identified one of your attackers." She paused, more for effect than anything else. 

"And?" He prompted her. 

"It's Jack's brother." 

"What!?" Tony said, startled and as shocked as she had been. "I didn't even know Jack had a brother." 

"I know. It checked out. Daniel Bauer. Seems when they were younger he was Jack's guardian. At some point some incident happened, which resulted in a warrant on Daniel, and Jack in the hospital. We don't know what happened, but Adam's looking into it. Seems as though they've been estranged from each other since then, so whatever happened, it must have been serious." 

"What's going on!" He said more to himself than Michelle. 

"I know." She whispered, leaning her head on Tony's chest for support, she was so tired. 

"You okay hun?" He asked, concerned. 

"Yeah. How's Chloé?" She asked. 

Tony rolled his eyes. "She's fine, I checked on her before I came to sign out. The doctors have stitched her up. It was only a grazing wound, yet she still thinks she had a near death experience. Jesus Michelle, I could've killed her myself in there..." He trailed off as Michelle began to chuckle at his remark. 

"She's not that bad Tony, just different." 

"Michelle, if your ever locked in a room with her for more than an hour while she constantly complains; trust me; you will change your opinion." 

The two laughed together and linked arms as they walked steadily back to C.T.U. They knew they would have no time to spend together when they got back, so they walked as slowly as possibly, treasuring the brief time they had together. 

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Slow chapter, I know! But, next chapter should be better, more Jack! Keep them reviews coming!! ;] 


	17. Chapter 17

Jack lay on the comfy bed, his bearings slowly coming back to him. He lay their, feeling himself wake up as he remembered what had happened and began to feel the pain of reality, his current condition. 

Daniel had eventually moved back over to his laptop, sending messages, making sure things were in place. Joel was watching both the brothers. He eyed Jack suspiciously, he knew they were brothers but had no idea why Daniel seemed so protective and worried about him. From what he had herd, he had left Jack for dead long ago, so why was he bothered now? As he thought this he noticed Jack's eyes open as he began to look around the room, slowly surveying his surroundings. 

"Daniel he's up." He informed as he patted Daniel on the shoulder, making sure he had herd. "I'll be in the living room." With that he turned and left the two alone. 

Jack was still looking around, and he had noticed he wasn't restrained in any way. This was either good or bad. Either he was he going to escape or he was too badly injured to get out. He pondered this thought as he saw a figure approach him. He instantly recognised him, and slowly said; 

"So I didn't dream it..... you really are here." He looked up at his brother, not sure how he should feel. His features were mixed with pain, and not just psychical, Daniel thought. 

"I had a doctor check you out. He left some pills for you, take away some of the pain." Daniel danced around the real subject he wanted to confront, but didn't have a clue as to where to begin. 

"Gee thanks." Was all Jack said, angry at his brother. 

"Jack don't do this." Daniel said, pleading evident in his voice. He gave Jack two of the pills and helped him lean forward to sip from the glass of water he had already poured, helping the pills go down. 

Jack said thanks naturally, before realising what he'd done. He silently cursed himself, he had no reason to say thanks to Daniel, none at all. 

Daniel sat back down in the grey chair and paused, not knowing what to say. 

"So... long time no see, I guess." It was all Jack could think to say, inside part of him wanted to cry whilst another part wanted to throw a fit, his emotions were all over the place. He was being smart to Daniel, trying to make it look as though he didn't care, but deep down, he did. 

"Jack...." Was all he said in response, still unable to compose his thoughts. 

"It's been over twenty years Danny, and you can't think of anything to say. Or should I be grateful you remembered my name?" He said, acting clever. He didn't know why he was acting so rash, it really wasn't him, but he needed to let some of his feelings out. They had been hidden away for so long. 

"I'm sorry Jack.... I .... I .... I didn't mean to leave you... I had no other choice... I would've gone to jail...." He said, sadly. 

"Well it is good to see you had your priorities in order." 

"It wasn't like that!" He began, trying to defend himself. 

"What! You are responsible for your action Danny, you should have paid the consequences." 

"It wasn't my fault!" 

"Bullshit!" Jack roared. He actually realised how angry he was, as his chest shrieked in pain as he shouted, yet he continued. "You shouldn't have set up the deal if you didn't have the goods!" 

Daniel tried to calm himself so he could explain it to Jack. "I know that Jack. It was stupid to think I could even pull it off. But if you hadn't have interfered, you wouldn't have been hurt." He said it simply, but it enraged Jack. 

"Interfered?! I come downstairs to find you and Craig getting your ass' kicked by some smack heads, and I'm not supposed to help you? What should I have done Danny, huh? Stood by and watched? What would you have done if it was me?" 

Daniel's anger matching Jack's, he replied. "All I am saying is that if you hadn't tried to stop them, they would have left you alone." 

Jack didn't reply, he was going dizzy from the shouting. He calmed himself and looked up at Daniel, "Do not try to put the blame on me. You were stupid enough to set up a drug deal, when the stuff was fake. They would have never fallen for it, and they didn't. But you didn't suffer the consequences, I did." 

"You unappreciative little st! You had your life back, I have been on the run for over twenty years Jack, I'm a fugitive, I'd say I've paid, wouldn't you?" He said. 

"You left me for dead! I was your responsibility, and you left me to die.... to save your own ass." 

Both fell silent at this; and Daniel knew he was right. 

"Look, I didn't come here to argue, I just... I ....." Again he couldn't find his words. 

Jack just stared at him. Anger raging through his eyes. 

"I'm sorry." He said, lowering his head in shame, but for Jack, it wasn't good enough. 

"Your sorry, for what? For leaving me to die? For turning my whole life upside down? The only reason I ended up in the army was because there was no other relatives I could live with; and I had to wait 9 months before I was old enough to look after myself, I was 17! I was not going in a foster home, so the army was my only other option. I didn't even care for it, but what other choice did I have? If I hadn't enrolled, who knows? Maybe I wouldn't have ended up at C.T.U.? Maybe, just maybe I'd be a whole lot better off if you hadn't fd everything up with your little stunt." 

"Jack you can't blame me for everything that's gone wrong in your life." He said. 

Jack looked up at him, seething with hate. "Like you would know what Ive been through since you left." 

"Look, Jack. I know I should never had left, I know, and I'm sorry. That's why I came here, to see you, to apologise, to make things right." 

"You wait over twenty years, and now you want to make things right?" Jack repeated, in shock. 

"Yes." 

"Its been too long Dan, you never should have left." 

"I know, I know! I wish to hell I didn't. It tore me up, leaving you their! I didn't know if you were going to make it or not. I called the ambulance, the police sirens were getting louder, Craig dragged me away. I swear to God Jack; if I, if I could change things, I never would have made the deal, and I never would have left you. I'm sorry. I just wanted you to understand, theirs not a day gone by that I haven't thought of you, of my mistake ."

Jack looked at him, saw the pain and the regret in his eyes. Something inside told him he was telling the truth, and something stronger told him he needed to give his forgiveness. He looked up to him, and nodded his head. It wasn't much, but Daniel understood. The smallest of movements meant all of the world to Daniel. He held his hand out, and after a slight hesitation Jack took it in his good hand and gave it a firm shake, like they used to do when they were younger. 

For the first time, in over twenty years, Daniel cried. The small clear tears began to snake down his cheeks, as he pulled his hand away. 

"God I've missed you Jack," He said as the tears of happiness continued to fall steadily.. 


	18. Chapter 18

Jack stared at Daniel from his position on the bed, watching as he wiped away at the silver tears as fast as they had appeared. Looking up embarrassed he said, 

"You have no idea how much I've missed you Jack." 

Jack nodded, he had forgiven his older brother for abandoning him almost twenty years ago, at a time when he needed him more than anything else. He was still shocked he had found the strength to do so, but inside it felt right, it was like his grandfather had told him when he was young, '_blood is thicker than water... don't ever forget that Jacky boy, you and Danny, you two stick together...'_ Jack briefly smiled to himself at the irony of it. That was the only memory he had of his grandfather, he was around ten at the time, and he passed away shortly afterwards. That left only his parents and brother as living relatives. Four years later they died, and then Danny left him. They hadn't stuck together for a long time, he thought, he had been alone for a long time. During that time, before Terri and Kim, he had often wondered what he was supposed to do when their was no blood, only water. Was that good enough? He sighed to himself, it was time to come clean. 

"Danny, I .... I blamed you all those years ago.... I know part of it was your fault, the fight, the whole deal, but.... I guess I blamed you for everything that went wrong once you were gone.... it was..... it was just easier I guess... easier to deal with things, to push stuff out of my head.... and over all these years its just got worse... I should have never joined in.... I know its not all your fault... I am responsible too." He looked down, it wasn't often he spoke so deeply, but he needed to get it out, he needed Daniel to understand he had forgiven him truly, before he began to ask him about the whole ordeal he had been through, and Danny's involvement in it. 

Daniel appeared to be choked up, he swallowed before replying, "Thanks Jack. I know the majority of it was down to me..." He broke off to let out a slight chuckle, " Well most of it was because of me, but.... thank you. You have no idea how much that means to me." 

Jack nodded then closed his eyes, he needed to know what was going on, he just didn't want to loose his new found link with his brother, like he had for so long. He didn't want to be alone anymore. He had finally got some blood back, he thought, and he didn't want it to turn into water. 

_Short chapter, but before I continue I need a certain somebodys advice._

_No oressure there, JackGod/Meg ;)_

__

_Please Review, and Ill try get more up soon...._


	19. Chapter 19

Chappelle again placed the phone into its cradle and sighed; routine he had grown accustomed to over the years spent working for the government. 

"What is it?" Tony asked, straightforwardly, not wanting to dance around the subject, like Ryan always did. 

"That was Division. They are sending someone over to see how were running, they want to shut us down." 

"Hammond?" Michelle asked, joining the conversation as she entered the office, with a red ring binder under her arm. 

"Yeah. But its come from someone above him."

"Great." Tony muttered. 

"Yes I know, so before he comes over, we need to figure out this thing with Jack. If we don't even have a handle on that Hammond is going to kick off." 

Michelle started. "Adam has compiled a lot of information on the situation between Jack and Daniel Bauer. He has found witness reports, police and hospital records on the incident that happened some time ago. He says he has also got case notes on the search for Daniel Bauer, and some newspaper articles on that and the death of their parents, Thomas and Mary Bauer." 

Tony watched Michelle intently as she spoke. 

"Right, me and Tony will look through this and come up with some possible hypothesis for what the situation is. I want you to get Scott onto the satellite feeds, try to get a place on Jack. Get Kim on cross references, and I want Adam onto the real threat. He is to run the new information we have on any databases we have, get him to cross reference everything too. Try get more personnel in, the inspectors said the building was safe, were just waiting on the construction of the stars, which should be up soon." 

"Got it." She said as she left the office. 

Once she had left the two men began leafing through the binder she left behind, containing the information on Jack. After a few minutes silent reading Tony spoke, 

"This is a direct report on what happened, which means its more than likely the reason they separated, it may have something to do with today."

"What does it say?" Ryan asked, dropping the sheet he was reading to the floor. 

"Okay... it appears that Daniel Bauer and a Craig Denver set up a drug deal, with some small time drug gang, called....." He paused as he tried to find the name in the leaflet, " oh, they haven't listed the name.." He said, surprised. 

"Get on with it Tony." Chappelle instructed. 

"Yeah, anyway, it went down at the Bauer residence, where only Jack and Daniel were listed as living. Well, the deal went down but the stuff they were selling was fake, so they broke out into a fight. Then the witness report here says..." He broke off again, skipping to the witness report he had read earlier, "Daniel and Craig were getting beat up pretty bad so Jack came downstairs, hearing the commotion, and joined in. Erm.... eventually someone pulled a gun and started shooting trying to split it up - but it didn't work, just alerted the police.... then somebody, here listed as Warren Dale, pulled out a knife and Jack was stabbed twice in the stomach. This obviously stopped the fight and the gang split, realising what they had done, and Daniel and Craig split too, leaving Jack....." He stopped, discarding the witness report and picking the police report back up. 

"Police arrived on the scene too late, they had all fled.... Jack was taken into hospital immediately.... the police held a investigation, but nothing came of it, they never charged anyone involved, they didn't have enough evidence on those they managed to find." 

"Okay, so what does this tell us?" Ryan said, processing the information through his mind. "We need to cross reference those names, and any others though our database, I know its a slow process and we've already got two agents on it, but we have to do it - it's protocol. I'll keep leafing through this stuff, you check those names for address' and see what you can find. If its possible, I want you to go visit some of these guys, if we can find them, this may be linked back somehow."

"I don't know Ryan, I mean, it's a bit of a stretch don't you think, and were not even sure that there is any connection. What if its all coincidence?" He asked. 

"Just do it Tony." He snapped. "We need to exhaust every possible lead or we'll get nowhere and Hammond will close us down."

"Sure." Was all Tony said, not wanting any more anger directed at him from a man he despised. He left the room wondering why he was performing such a pointless task, he just hoped that somehow some sort of lead would come through. 


	20. Chapter 20

Jack laid on the bed whilst Daniel was still in the chair. Neither had spoke for the past five minutes, neither knowing what to say. Jack had a lot of things he needed to say, but wanted to understand his present situation before he started. He needed to see how capable he was of escaping before he began to question his brothers actions and more importantly, his motives. 

Joel entered the room, thinking he had given Daniel enough time alone. He needed to discuss some things, and Joel understood that, but he needed to go over details with him now. 

"Daniel." Joel said as he entered the room. "I need to go over some things with you in the other room." He tried to speak authoritative but both knew Daniel was the boss. 

Sighing, Daniel got up. "Fine." He said. Before he left he turned to look at Jack, "Ill be five minutes, okay?" The concern was present in his voice. 

Jack nodded, and patiently waited as the two left the room. Once alone Jack realised it was time to test his strength, and see how badly injured he was. He began to push himself into a sitting position using his one good arm, and found it extremely difficult. His chest was burning with pain, but he continued anyway, knowing he needed to get up. He finally managed to sit up and groaned in pain as he moved his arm. He could see the pain killers on the desk, with the lap top. 

He figured that he should take some more of the pills. He knew it was dangerous to take too many as he could injure himself further, but if he was going to escape, he wasn't going to get far whilst feeling the pain. 

He slowly began to stand, his legs were a little wobbly at first, but eventually he was confident he could walk. He took a few tentative steps forward, his arm and chest aching with every step. He was halfway there, two more steps and he would be at the desk. He reached out to the wall to steady himself, but the door opened. 

Joel and Daniel both entered the room. Daniel had a questionable look on his face, but Joel looked angry. He looked to Daniel, "What the hell is he doing?" He yelled, angry that he hadn't taken his advice earlier and restrained him. 

Daniel turned to Joel and ordered, "Leave us alone. I will find you when I am ready." Joel knew not to argue, and so he left the room. Daniel approached Jack who was still leaning against the wall in pain from the short journey. 

"What are you doing Jack?" He asked softly, ready to accept whatever excuse he offered. 

"I was getting the pills.... my chest...." He stopped to swallow, "... really hurts..." He broke off, out of breath. There was no acting, his pain was real. 

Daniel grabbed Jacks good arm and slowly led him back to the bed, Daniel silently noted how weak he was. Once he was laid back down, Daniel told him, "You can't have anymore for another hour, then I'll give you some." 

Jack didn't argue, he simply closed his eyes. He knew he wasn't going to get very far, so he might as well find out what his brother was up to, what he was involved in this time. 

"Why am I here Dan?" He asked quietly. 

"I wanted to see you, make things right." He said. 

"You could have phoned. What happened down at that warehouse, you were their too. Are you involved in this bomb?" His voice broke into a whisper as he said this, fearing the answer. 

"Jack we both know that you wouldn't have seen me freely, and it wasn't something that could be said over the phone." He paused, not knowing how to explain his involvement to Jack, someone who wouldn't understand. "What happened at the warehouse doesn't matter, but I am involved with the bomb, yes." He didn't offer any more information, so Jack had to probe. 

"How far is you involvement?" 

"I'm responsible for the detonation. The only person with more power than me is the financial backer for this whole operation."

Jack was beginning to add things up. "So, this whole 'I'm sorry I left you' thing was a load of shi. You have me here so I don't stop the bomb like I did last time." Anger was present in his voice. 

"That's not true Jack. I wanted you here, so I could see you." 

"Oh I see, like two birds with one stone?" He questioned. 

"You wont understand, you can't understand Jack. The things Ive seen-"

Jack interrupted him, filled with rage, "The things you have seen! Don't even start down that road Dan you have no idea. That is the most worn out excuse ever, so don't feed me that bullshi!" He yelled. 

"Weather you believe me or not, its true Jack. But I brought you here to make things right. We don't have much time left." 

"What?" Jack asked, confused. 

"The bomb is going to detonate today Jack, nearly all of Los Angeles is going to be destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of people will die, including us." He said simply, as though it was the most natural thing in the world. 

Jack tried to sit up, shocked by his brothers revelation. "What?" 

"That's why you are here Jack. So I could make things right with you before we leave this world for another." 

Jack stared at him in shock, not able to comprehend what he was saying. "Why detonate a bomb if you are going to be part of the wreckage?" 

"I'm not a bad person Jack, I am doing this for the greater good. You will understand when we reunite in the heavens." He said, ignoring Jacks question. 

"Heavens? What are you talking about, this isn't you!" Jack stammered.   
  
"Jack, you haven't know me in a long time. I have changed for the better, and so will you." 

"No I wont Danny, I know where my morals lie and I would never sentence millions to death because of... shi.... I don't even understand why you are doing this!" 

"It may look like I am doing a bad thing now Jack, but in the afterlife you will thank me. I don't have a cause, this is simply my way to protest against an inhumane world." 

"This is stupid, your crazy!" Jack yelled, before he started to cough again. 

Daniel was angry that his brother couldn't understand. "Ive been keeping tabs on you over the years Jack. I know how you saved the presidents life when he was a senator, I know that your wife was murdered, you saved the country from a nuclear bomb! I know you were given a drug habit to complete your job. I know how much you have suffered, as have I, so how can you say that this world is not cruel?" 

"If you have been paying so attention to my life you would know I have a daughter. Are you willing to let her die?" He said, hoping to strike a cord with Daniel, make him think about what he is going to do. 

"Of course I know about Kim. I am doing this for her too, for us all Jack.." 

"If this world has been so bad to you then take your own life, let the other hundred thousand have the choice to live or die!" He shouted, again angry. 

"They don't understand Jack, like you don't understand. But you will, once we are on the other side." He remained calm. 

"How do you even know their is something else? What if their is nothing on the other side Dan, then what?" He asked, trying to provoke him. 

"I don't expect you to understand." He said. "I have to make some preparations, I'll be back when you can take some more pills. Don't try to escape Jack, first off, your not strong enough to get out of here, you will just hurt yourself more, and secondly, it doesn't matter where you go, the blast will take you. The blast will take us all." 

He left the room and Jack slammed his fist into the mattress angry. How could his brother be so narrow minded, so stupid, and most of all, so selfish. He had to have been brainwashed, that was the only plausible explanation he thought. He momentarily thought of Kate, he now knew how she felt, and understood why Marie's involvement screwed her up so much. She would die too, he thought. 

He looked around the room, thinking that he had to escape to stop the bomb, but he felt weak from the argument, to weak to move. He could feel his eyes drooping as his body tried to sleep, as he dozed off his last angry thoughts were of if he would wake up again. 


	21. Chapter 21

Michelle was hunched over Kim's computer checking her source code when Adam came running over, clearly excited about something. 

"Michelle can you come over to my terminal, I have something to show you." He said, not wanting to give any information away in front of Kim. 

"Just give me a minute please Kim, I'll be right back." She said before hurrying along behind Adam. He slumped into his blue swivel chair and began tapping on the terminal. "I can't believe I managed to get this. The fire wall they had protecting it wasn't double faced, it was quite poor actually, they can't be pro, they don't seem to have the technology. They didn't even block the codes for the-" 

"Slow down Adam, I can't understand a word of what you are saying. What have you got?" 

"A satellite showing Jacks location." He said it proudly, he wondered if Chloé would have got through, probably not he thought smugly. 

"You have, where is it?" She said surprised. 

"Iv already alerted the tactical team Division loaned us until field ops. is up and running, they are on their way already. ETA is fifteen minutes away." 

"This is brilliant Adam, keep at it." 

Michelle ran over to where Tony was sat, looking up records for people from Jacks past. So far nothing had surfaced, it looked bleak. 

"Tony, we got a location on Jack, tactical teams are on their way." 

"What? How?" 

"Adam broke though their fire wall and we got them on satellite." 

"Just like that?" Tony asked, shocked. 

"Just like that. But the team are awaiting orders from you, their in on line three." 

"Great!" Tony said, as he picked up the phone and punched in the line number. "This is Tony Almeida.... yes, you are retrieving one of our agents..... were sending an image of him now..... the hostiles? Shoot to wound only.... we need them alive." He hung the phone up and smiled triumphantly, "I can't believe we got a location on Jack! I can't believe it!" He was like a giddy school child, excited. Suddenly his mood changed, as though he had just remembered something. "I need to tell Kim. About her father... about her uncle" 

"What? Do you have to?" Michelle asked, concerned about Kim. "Can't Jack tell her when he comes back?" 

"Michelle she needs to know, incase Jack doesn't come back. He wont be coming here anyway..." He said, his voice drowning off as he remembered Jacks condition as they parted. 

"What do you mean Tony?" Michelle enquired. 

"Um... nothing, but I gotta tell her." Michelle made to interrupt but he waved her off with his hand. "Don't worry, she is used to hearing bad news from me instead of her father." 

With that he turned and headed over to Kim's terminal, as Michelle watched nervously. 


	22. Chapter 22

This chapter is for jackrocks, thanks for all of the kind words ;) 

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Joel stood over Daniel's shoulder as he typed away at a furious speed, e-mailing his contact. 

"So you told him then?" Joel asked, breaking the silence; he was curious as to why it was such a big deal that Daniel saw his brother. 

"Yes I did." Was all Daniel said, he was never one to give out more information that was necessary. 

"And?" Joel asked, suspicious of Jack.   
  
"And he doesn't agree with our plans." He said simply. 

"Is he going to be a problem?" 

"Tell me how he can possible be a problem Joel." Daniel said angrily, tiring of Joel's stupid questioning. 

"It's just that, well we saw him earlier, and hew could have been searching through the laptops files for all we know!" He suggested this, knowing it was weak and that Daniel wouldn't hear it. 

"Joel, Jack is my business, my concern, you got it?" 

"Yes." He said, in a sheepish tone. 

"Good." Was Daniel's response as he got up and opened the door into the other room which Jack occupied. He looked in then shut the door back and turned to Joel. "If it makes you feel any better he is sleeping, take a look for yourself." He instructed as he took his familiar spot in front of the computer. 

Joel did go take a look for himself, he didn't like having Jack here. He opened the white door and turned his head around the corner. Jack was laid on the bed clearly in a deep sleep, and looked like he was having a pretty bad dream. He was shacking and sweating and kept whimpering every now and then. 

"Danny, perhaps you should see this." He said quietly. 

"What?" He asked as he entered the room with Joel. 

"Shi." He whispered under his breath. 

"Should we wake him?" Joel asked. 

"No. He's in pain when he is awake, leave him; he's just dreaming." 

Joel went to leave, but before he did so he said, "You want me to bring your laptop in here?" 

Without saying anything Daniel smiled and nodded, Joel knew him very well. 

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As Jack slept he dreamt. He was seventeen again, living with his brother in their small home which they had inherited from their parents after they had died. This was all they had been able to leave them, the endless debt they had been in had swallowed everything else up. 

He laid on his bed, tired from work. He had a weekend job in a car garage, and was slowly learning the finer details of mechanics. He had finished school exams a week ago and since then had been working non stop to help Daniel pay the rent. He was reading the latest detective fiction novel he had taken from the library, and was entranced in the words. He knew he was tired and had to get up early for work, yet he just couldn't make himself put the book down. 

As he read sudden shouting pulled him back to the surface of the reality that the words had taken him away from. He looked towards the door of his small room and wondered what was going off. Daniel had instructed him to stay in his room all night, he had something going down. He wouldn't tell Jack what he was planning, but it would give them some extra cash so they could get ahead with the rent. 

He tried to carry on reading but the shouting continued and gradually became louder and sounded more violent. Suddenly their was no more shouting, just noise, the noise of fighting. Now eager to see what was happening he climbed out of bed, and pulled on a pair of black shorts and a white T-shirt over his boxers, and silently opened his room door. 

He tiptoed over to the landing, scared that Daniel would hear him and know he hadn't done as he was instructed. He leaned over to get a glimpse of what was happening, and didn't like what he saw. There were about six other boys in the house, none of whom Jack recognised, but they were beating the hell out of Daniel and Craig, someone who was close enough to the two to be a brother. 

Watching this happen angered Jack and without thinking he pounced down the old wooden staircase and dove onto the first person he saw and began punching him in the face. What happened next was all a large blur. He was still fighting, with more than one person, but he could hear shouting too. Some of the strangers were trying to get their friends to leave, but they were too busy caught up in the fight. Jack moved onto the next person and began to smack him furiously, nobody could stop him. 

Still amidst the fight Jack herd two gunshots and he immediately froze. Everyone did. They looked around to see one of the lads shouting for them to leave as he pushed his gun back into his waistband. Before he knew what was happening Craig was on top of the guy and the fight continued. 

That was until, one of the men fighting with Jack pulled out a flick knife from underneath him. Jack chinned him one last time before he saw the silver glint of the blade, then felt the searing white hot pain erupt through his side, then again through his chest, causing him to fall to the floor in screams of agony. 

That broke the fight up, everything pretty much stopped. Jack laid on the floor crying from the pain and watched as his brother froze, startled from what was happening. The gang was leaving, running away from the mess they had created, sirens could be herd in the distance. Craig was instantly by Jacks side asking him if he was okay. What sort of a question is that, Jack thought, I feel like I'm going to die! He closed his eyes and could hear his brother calling an ambulance. He opened them back up to see Craig had applied a towel to the wounds. He tried to speak but words wouldn't come out, the pain was too strong, he was loosing consciousness. Everything was covered in fog. Danny crying, saying he couldn't leave him, Craig pulling him away, their was no other choice, he kept saying. He could hear Craig telling his brother he would be okay, their was an ambulance coming. He could hear Danny saying he was sorry, he would come back. He opened his eyes one last time and focused his vision on the pool of blood that had formed next to him and was quickly growing. 'I'm going to die.' He realised that Daniel had left and he was going to die alone. He closed his eyes one final time and let the roaring pain take him away. 


	23. Chapter 23

Kim sat down next to Tony in the one conference room that had somehow remained undamaged throughout the fire fight. She was confused, she didn't understand why Tony had taken her aside like he had, had she done something wrong? As though a light bulb flashed above her head she realised it was about her father. She wondered just how many times Tony had taken her aside to give her bad news or an update on his condition, or... she stopped, she didn't want to remember the first time Tony had taken her aside like this, the news had changed her life forever. 

"What's going on Tony?" She asked, no beating around the bush. 

"Kim, you know that me and Chloé came back from the warehouse without your dad, yes?" He said softly, planning his words very carefully. 

"Yes, I just thought-" 

"Kim, he is still captured. We have assault teams on the way to their exact location. The problem is.... their is a man who we think is responsible for a threat on L.A. today-" 

"What!" She interrupted, shocked.   
  
"Kim, that is not why we are here. The men who we believe is responsible is called Daniel." He paused, not knowing how to tell her this final piece of information. "Daniel Bauer, he's.. he's your dads brother." 

"What? That can't be possible, my dad doesn't even have a brother." She said confidently, knowing it was a misunderstanding. 

Tony sighed, "That's what we thought too, but he is. Here, look at this." He passed her a screen-shot of him from the surveillance. 

Kim was shocked at this news, and even more so by the photograph. "He looks just like my father." 

"Yes, he does. We have birth certificates, id numbers, reports and records on this, Kim, they are brothers." 

"Well why would my father lie?" She asked, on the verge of tears. 

"Your better off asking him that Kim." 

"No, you tell me Tony, how do I know he isn't just going to lie to me again!" She sounded distraught. 

"From the intel we gathered, it seems that when they were younger Daniel got Jack in a pretty sticky situation and left Jack for dead. It easily explains why he didn't tell you about him Kim, he was probably just trying to protect you." He said gently, wishing Jack could be here to explain himself to both of them. 

"Okay." She said while nodding her head, as though she understood and was accepting the new news. 

"I'm sorry I had to be the one to tell you this, but I thought you needed to know. Were all trying to find information on Daniel Bauer's past seen as he disappeared a long time ago." 

"Thanks Tony, I appreciate it." She paused dreading the answer to her next question. "How was he Tony? I mean, their has to be a reason for why he didn't come back with you two." 

Tony looked at her, he couldn't lie, but didn't want to weigh her down with any more bad news either, he had done enough of that for one day. "He's going to be okay." 

Kim smiled at him, knowing what he was doing, Tony smiled too, they both understood. With that he left the room as Kim wondered what was going on, and what could have happened to make her dad lie about his brother, his only living relative. 


	24. Chapter 24

Daniel was seated by Jack once again, watching him thrash about in his sleep with concerned eyes. He was sweating badly and looked as though he was feeling the pain even asleep. He wondered if it would be better to wake him after all, he looked as though he may be causing himself further injury by moving about like he was. He gently slapped his face but Jack didn't stir, so he tried to shake his one good shoulder, but again Jack continued to sleep. Whatever he was dreaming about was holding his attention, and Daniel had a good idea of what he was dreaming of. He still felt guilty about what he did, and would give anything to go back, how he would do things differently if he had a second chance. If he had stayed with Jack, maybe he would understand why he was doing the things he was today. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Meanwhile, Jack was still living his nightmare, which was now moving from one image to another, reminding him of what had happened after the stabbing. 

He woke up in a white bed in a white room where people wore white overcoats, a hospital. He had laid in the same bed for weeks, until they were satisfied his wounds were healed. He had no visitors during this, after all, Daniel was his only blood relative left. The police were questioning him, the social worker was explaining the scenario of a foster home to him, he was filling in forms for the army. Running from reality. 

The images moved faster and faster, little screen-shots of his life from that day on, when he became a soldier. Images of the training throughout his different ranks in the military, fighting with his fellow comrades, covert missions, the birth of Kim, the death of Terri, the Drazen's, Nina, Masons departure, the nuclear bomb, the torture, Kate, the Salazar's, the virus, Chappelle, and lastly, Daniel's return. 

As the new image of Daniel entered his brain he shot up awake crying out in pain. Daniel jumped up shocked for a second, then composed himself enough to grab Jack's wrist, 

"Whoa Jack, calm down, Jack, Jack! It was just a dream... take it easy." He said it like a father would to his son. 

"I.... where are......" Jack muttered, trying to figure everything out, trying to get his bearings. 

"Shhh. You were dreaming." He said calmly. 

Jack said nothing, he moved into a more comfortable position, the pain biting up through his arm. 

"Do you want another pill?" 

Normally Jack would have declined, he did not like admitting he was in pain, and he liked to deal with it by himself. But this was a different kind of pain from anything he had ever suffered before, this really was pain, he thought. He gave a brief nod of his head to Daniel, but he never had time to take it. 

An explosion rocked the entire house and the bang was deafening. Jack instantly knew what was happening, C.T.U. had found him. 

"Get down!" He screamed to Daniel seconds before the door was opened and a flash bang was thrown in. Jacks instincts took over and he squeezed his eyes shut and held his arm over his head as best he could, the bang still hurt his ears. He looked to see Daniel recovering and pulling out a gun. 

"Daniel no! They will draw fire, stay down!" He screamed as the door flew opened and three men dressed in S.W.A.T gear rushed into the room, reading their weapons at both men before they knew which one was which. He hadn't realised it until that moment, when his brain finally registered what he had said, he really did care about him, after everything that had happened, he didn't want to see him be blown away, he didn't want it all to be for nothing. He watched the men, unsure why the team wasn't moving in. 

That was when he herd Daniel shout, "Drop your weapons now or I will kill him." 

Jack turned his head slightly from his position on the bed and saw Daniel holding his gun next to his temple. His mind went in overdrive, what was Daniel doing? He was mad, he had told Daniel to get down, he had tried to protect him, and now, didn't he really care about Jack? 

"Daniel?" Jack said, confused. 

"Shut up Jack, please." The pleading was evident in his voice., he didn't like what he was doing. It was strange but Jack felt some relief from it, either his brother didn't like threatening his life or he was going to feel guilty about killing him afterwards. (Nice!) 

"Daniel put the gun down. We both know you wont shoot me..." He paused, deciding which way he was going to play it. "Or maybe you will.." 

"Jack!" He warned. 

"No, I mean, thinking about it, you practically killed me before, so what should stop you now?" 

"Jack I mean it, shut up!" Daniel shouted, Jacks words hurting him. 

"I'm only your brother anyway... not even close, are we? Not seen each other in over twenty years before today, hell, were strangers! You would kill a stranger; wouldn't you?" 

Daniel was getting angry and confused, he knew what Jack was trying to do, disorientate him, but he wasn't going to let him. 

Jack turned his head slightly so he could see Daniel better. "Go on. Do it. Put us both out of our miseries." 

The look in Daniel's eyes told him everything he needed to know. Slowly he pulled himself up and carefully stepped away from the bed and edged his way towards the door. One of the S.W.A.T men assisted Jack as the other two restrained Daniel who had dropped his gun in defeat. 

Jack turned around to face his brother, leaning on the unknown man for support. Biting through the pain he said, "You were planning on killing both of us at some time today with this bomb; but you can't pull a trigger that will end both our lives? Pathetic," He spat, angry at his brothers plans, "Some protest." 

With that he turned and let the man help him out of the room before he passed out, his rage draining his body, and his confusion from the mixed emotions running freely inside of him pushing him onto the verge of a mental breakdown. 


	25. Chapter 25

Ryan smiled as he and Tony entered the spare conference room. 

"We got em." He said, seeing the nervous look on Tony's face since the teams were sent, he knew Tony was worried while he had been waiting for the news of the team that had gone for Jack. 

"And Jack?" He asked, dreading the answer, expecting the worse for some reason. 

"And Jack." Ryan said, smiling once again as he saw the look of relief sweep over his face. 

"How is he, did they say, he was pretty messed up back at the warehouse?" 

Chappelle hesitated slightly, then said. "They are taking him straight to the hospital. Medical team says they are already prepping his for surgery of some sorts." 

Tony nodded, it made sense. "Where, LA. county?" 

"No, the choppers taking him to the closest one in the next city... I'm not sure which one. Its simply a precaution with the bomb, and Ive had President Palmer burning my ear off on the phone since he found out about Jacks situation." 

"Okay, I'll go update Kim and Palmer, can you set up the interrogation rooms and bring in double security." He paused, wondering if Ryan would be annoyed that Tony was giving him orders, but his expression would suggest he hadn't really noticed the reversed roles. "If this guy Daniel is anything like Jack then were going to need it!" He said as the two started laughing. 

They were both relieved about Jack, but at the same time they also knew he was now the least of their problems, they still had to find a bomb whilst proving C.T.U. was fully operational to Division, which wasn't going to be an easy task. 

Tony made to leave when Chappelle perked back up, "Oh Tony, hang on a minute I forgot to tell you something." He paused wondering how to tell Tony the news, he would be annoyed in the very least. "Chloé is back from the clinic, I put her on priority, Kim was getting nowhere." 

"What! Isn't spending hours locked in a room with her torture enough! Why hasn't she gone home?" He said, angry. 

Chappelle tried to keep a straight face, he didn't like Chloé either, but was finding it funny as Tony would have to deal with her not him. "The nurses stitched and cleaned her wound. It was a grazer Tony, didn't even reach the bone, it was a very small scratch." 

Tony was getting aggravated already. "Small! Do you know how many times she nearly got herself killed for complaining about that 'wound'? I thought they would have had to amputate with the way she was complaining! How did you get her to come back, I though she would already be claiming sick and filling out a claims form against the government for putting her in that dangerous position!" 

The two laughed at Tony's joke, until Chappelle put an even bigger downer on the Chloé scenario. "Well I told her we will pay her time and half for all of her efforts today. She changed her mind about going home pretty quickly after my offer." 

"Great she gets to annoy the hell out of me whilst being paid loads to do it!" He laughed as he left the room, dreading working with her again. 

Tony headed across the main hall of C.T.U. noticing the growth of personnel as he did so, the building must have finally been declared safe, 'what a comforting thought,' he said under his breath as he arrived at his terminal, silently thanking God for not making him bump into Chloé. 

Pulling him from his thoughts his extension rang, and he answered immediately. 

"C.T.U. Almeida?" 

"Tony?" He herd Jack say weakly down the line, sounding a little worse for wear. 

"Jack, I'm glad you got out okay, Ryan said they were transferring you to the hospital." 

"Yeah, listen that's not why I'm calling. My brother Daniel is on his way to C.T.U. yes?" 

Tony was about to give Jack a lecture about the whole brother scenario but decided to save it until he got back to C.T.U. "Yeah the teams should be arriving shortly, why?" He asked. 

"Ive been thinking, if your going to interrogate him, I think you are better off going down the guilt trip road than anything else."

"What makes you say that Jack?" He asked, wondering if he was simply trying to protect him.   
  
"He held me hostage when the teams arrived and that's the way I played it, he simply couldn't handle the pressure. Look, I know he want's this bomb to go off, but I don't think he can go through with it really." 

"Its a weak hunch to go on Jack, I mean, we don't have the time to waste and Ryan's already called in Johnson." 

"Just try it Tony!" Jack snapped, before breaking into a hacking cough. 

"You okay Jack?" Tony asked, concerned, his voice filled with worry. 

"Yes I'm fine, we just arrived, I got to go. Just do it that way, please." He said before ending the conversation with the click of a button. 


	26. Chapter 26

"Yes sir, I understand." Tony said, on the phone to President Palmer who had told him he would be responsible for updating him on Jacks situation and the progress of the investigation of the possible threat to LA. 

"Where is Daniel Bauer now, Mr. Almeida?" Palmer asked through his deep voice. 

"He in on his way here sir." 

"How do you intend to interrogate him?" Palmer asked, expecting to be asked to sanction certain 'methods' of interrogation, like he usually had to in theses grave situations. 

"I'm not sure sir..... Jack seemed pretty certain that we shouldn't go hard on him, he-" 

"Why does Jack think this? He could simply be trying to protect his brother." Palmer interrupted, concerned of Jack's motives. 

"Sir, I highly doubt Jack would compromise this information for his brother who left him for dead over twenty years ago, to come back into his life by taking him hostage." Tony realised how he had raised his voice and got angry at Palmer's suggestions. 

"Okay, I just want to stay informed. Do what you think is best, but should it come to it, you have the authority to use all means necessary."

"Thank you sir." 

"Keep me posted on the matter." He said before hanging up. 

Tony too hung up and rubbed at his eyes, tired. He tried to get his mind around how he would take the interrogation, Daniel would be here soon, but before he could think about it Kim approached him. 

"Any news on my father?" 

"Yeah we just spoke, he's at the hospital now." Tony immediately realised that wasn't the best thing to say as Kim's eyes widened with fear. "He will be fine." 

"I wish I could believe you Tony, but how many times has he been 'fine,' when he was really on the verge of death?" She said angrily, not knowing why. Something she had inherited it from Jack. 

"I know, I know. If you want I can request a chopper to take you to him, he's not in the city." He said apologetically.

Kim smiled but before she could answer the doors to C.T.U. opened and Daniel Bauer was led in, his hands cuffed before him, surrounded by armed guards. Both Kim and Tony stopped dead in their tracks, both a little stunned by the physical resemblance he had to Jack, but more so by his ppesence. 

"I'm not going anywhere." She said coldly as he walked past her. Daniel gave her a side glance, not really noticing her, and not recognising her.   
  
"Kim, maybe you should be with Jack..." 

"No. I want to watch this, I want.... I need some answers here Tony." 

All Tony could do was nod sympathetically before leaving her to update Chappelle. Kim stood alone by Tony's terminal, staring at the Daniel's retreating entourage, wondering what he had done to her dad to make him ignore his existence. She knew brief details, but thye didn't explain everything, but he would, she thought. 

At this time Jack was laid on an operating table as three doctors were working diligently on repairing the tissue damage on his arm and chest. They knew they would have to take tissue from somewhere, probably his leg, to use to repair the damage, and it looked like it was going to be a hard and slow healing process for the patient, yet they were still optimistic about recovery. 


	27. Chapter 27

Chappelle stood with his hands on his hips, clearly not in the mood for an argument. "Look Tony, lets just bring Johnson in and make the bd tell us what he knows. We don't have 

the time to beat around the bush playing mind games." 

"I know, but I've been thinking, what Jack said did make sense. After all, the only reason he is here is because Jack called his bluff. He doesn't have the guts to do this, I can see it in him." 

"The thing is Tony, all Jack did was chance it that he wouldn't kill him. We can't do that here, we don't have Jack here. Maybe he could have got through to him somehow, but I really can't see this working." Chappelle thought for a moment, thinking about what Tony had just said, "Tony. Lets look at this from all angles. Daniel is going to detonate a bomb which he is positive will wipe out himself and Jack, in the process of detonating. If this is so, why couldn't he kill Jack earlier?"   
  
"That's what I'm saying Ryan. He doesn't have the guts, he couldn't bring himself to hurt Jack." Tony said, wondering if he could ever get through to Ryan. 

"Well that could be the case, or perhaps it means something else. Somebody else could detonate the bomb, or maybe its not set to go off in LA at all." 

Tony sighed, how Ryan managed to be director he had no idea. "Ryan, this bomb is going off in LA. But yes, if someone else was responsible for the bomb, it would make sense. Daniel could have accepted, even embraced his and Jack's fate, but doesn't want to be the one responsible for his death." 

Kim coughed slightly, to announce her presence in the doorway of the room. "I want to talk to Daniel." She said confidently. 

Ryan immediately scoffed at the thought, Tony was a little less direct with his reservations. "Kim that's not going to happen, we are going to interrogate him soon." 

"Come on Tony. I'm sat here doing nothing because Chloé has took over my entire workload. Let me talk to him. Maybe my presence will dinentoriate him, I could play the guilt trip on him more than anyone else, after all, I am his niece..." 

Tony didn't want to admit it, but she was right, her presence alone could help. He looked to Chappelle who seemed unsure. "Kim, I don't like the idea of this, Jack will go crazy when he finds out..." he said, weighing up the pros and cons in his mind. 

"My dad is not here, I am. Please, let me do this." She said pleadingly. 

Ryan looked defeated. "Fine, but I am bringing in Johnson, incase this doesn't work." 

"That's fine." She said, before turning and heading away. She began walking over to her terminal to get her jacket. She passed by Chloé, who perked up and asked, "Kim, where did you store those files, I cant find them." She asked impatiently, in her snotty tone. 

"There in my document portfolio Chloé." She said not even breaking her stride.   
  
This annoyed Chloé, who stood up angrily, "Kim your not supposed to store them their, that's very irresponsible and is going against your set protocol!" 

Kim turned around to face her, he was about to insult her, but instead she spoke in a calm tone, "Enough Chloé, I have a witness to interrogate." 

The look on her face was priceless, Kim thought as she turned and headed back over to the rooms where he was being held. 

Chloé huffed and puffed before going off to find Tony, to complain about that. Tony was walking over to go inside with Kim, he saw Chloé, or more importantly, the look on her face. "I don't have time for whatever it is your complaining about Chloé, just get on with your work." 

"But Tony!" She screeched, like a child. 

"Look Chloé, just shut up will you!" He yelled, grabbing the attention of everyone in C.T.U. He took one more look at her before he headed over to Kim who was waiting for him. He arrived and the security guards unlocked the door and stepped aside to let them enter. 

Daniel was restrained physically, but also looked defeated, and things hadn't even begun. Tony stood in the corner of the room with his arms folded across his chest. He watched as Kim strode over to the chair opposite him and confidently sat down. 

Daniel finally tore his eyes away from the spot on the floor he had been studying and looked up. His eyes quickly showed his surprise, and spoke, shocking both Tony and Kim. 

"Hello Kim." He said smugly, realising that they had no idea how he knew her. 


	28. Chapter 28

Daniel smirked, thinking he had one over her, but Kim was having none of it. She waited a moment, deciding how to play it. Then she spoke, in an even tone. 

"You know who I am and I know who you are Daniel, so lets skip the pleasantries." 

"Do you know who I am?" He asked, not trying to be smart, simply wondering if Jack had told her about him. 

"I know that you did something to my father, something that made him ignore your existence through my entire life You must have done something pretty bad... he isn't the type to hold a grudge." She lied on the last part, but knew her words would effect him, they had to make him think at least, as the thought alone hurt her, and she didn't know what had happened, and she wasn't involved. Tony knew this wasn't the subject they wanted to cover, but had to admit, the moment she mentioned it he began to squirm. Maybe this way was going to work after all. 

"I did not do anything to him..." He said, his voice going soft. 

"Of course you did! Why else would he pretend he has no living relatives other than me, when he has a brother!" 

"I didn't mean for him to get hurt!" Daniel yelled, the guilt forcing it out of him. "He got in the way, it was his fault!" He said desperately, wanting to make her understand. 

"Daniel do you care about my dad? Were you even bothered when you left him twenty years ago?" She asked, coldly, wanting him to let his guard down so he would eventually spill the beans on the whole bomb plot. 

"I didn't want to leave him... I had no choice..." He said, desperately wanting her to believe him. 

"So you do care about him?" She asked in a mocking tone. 

"Yes." He said quietly. He knew what they were up to, but couldn't fight them, he had to let her know he didn't ever mean to leave Jack. 

"So let me get this straight." She said. "You care about my dad, but still plan to detonate a bomb which would kill him? Your gonna have to help me here, I'm a little confused." She said. Tony stood back and let her run the show, she was doing a pretty good job he thought. 

Daniel, was equally confused. "No... it wasn't my idea to set it off here, but... they wanted to, so we decided it was best if we all died in the bomb, that way they would see how strong our fight is." As he spoke it was as though he was trying to remember what they had taught him, not what he believed. 

"What are you fighting against?" She asked, interested. 

"This inhumane world." He stated. 

"Which means what exactly? The cruelty? The government? Elaborate." 

Daniel was getting aggravated and panicky. "Everything!" He said. 

It was here they both knew that Daniel didn't even know what he was fighting against. 

"So your telling me, your willing to kill yourself, your brother, and hundreds of other people, for something you don't even understand?" She said sarcastically. 

Daniel lowered his head embarrassed. "Your not responsible for the bomb itself, are you?" She asked, knowing the answer. 

"No." He whispered, refusing to look up. 

"Then who is, and what part in all of this did you play?" 

"I wanted Jack to think I was really successful, that I was in charge of the whole thing." He admitted, but Kim wanted to get him back on track. 

"I'm sure my dad would be a lot happier knowing that you weren't responsible, so who is responsible Daniel?" She said, in a caring gentle tone. 

"I don't know, he contacted me through an e-mail in my laptop." It was here Kim herd Michelle's voice come in through her ear piece, telling her she had already assigned people to the computer. "I was supposed to get Jack and two others from here, so they wouldn't find it." He said. 

"Are you willing to die Daniel, give up everything, give up your family?" She said, staring deep into him. After thinking about it for a few minutes he slowly shook his head.   
  
"I just wanted to make Jack think I was doing good. I only took the job to get some extra money, they were paying big. I didn't even know about the thing until Joel told me yesterday." 

This caught both Tony and Kim's attention, and Tony was about to jump in, but he decided to let Kim continue. She had, after all, got all of the information out of his so far. 

"Who's Joel?" She tried to make it sound like she was interested, so he would spill more.   
  
"My partner. I was in charge, but a different person to my contact gave him information too." he paused, seeing the looks up on their faces, they didn't know this so far, which confused him. "You didn't pick him up with me?" He asked. 

"What do you mean?" Kim asked. 

"He was in the house too." 

Kim looked to Tony, who motioned for her to go outside. The two left and a guard entered to keep Daniel company. "Great work Kim, brilliant work. Now, get Chloé back onto her satellite feed, we need to find this person. I also want you to check all our surfers for a Joel, also, check the aliases too." 

Kim nodded, "I'm on it." 

Kim went over to her terminal, and began searching through the logs, but five minutes in, she was distracted. She wondered how her dad was doing. She knew he was in bad shape, and wanted to be with him. More importantly, she wanted somebody to be there for him when he came round. She hesitated before picking her phone up. She didn't know what was happening with her dad and Kate, he was so secretive with her. She decided to call anyway, it couldn't hurt, she thought. 

After getting through to the Warners Enterprise she was on hold for five minutes, until Kate's familiar voice came on the line. It had a worried tone, after all, she knew something was going on for Kim to be calling her, she just hoped it wasn't Jack. 

"Kate? Hi its Kim." 

"Hi Kim, what's going on, are you okay?" She asked, both confused and worried now. 

"Listen, my dad got pretty hurt today and is at the hospital." Kate felt her heart sink as she herd this. She managed a "Uh huh." 

"I shouldn't be doing this but I have to, their is a potential threat on L.A., you need to leave town. My dad has been took somewhere outside L.A. and I was wondering if I could ask you to go see him... I know its a stupid thing to say, and I know I'm bombarding you with information, but its not safe for anyone here, and I want someone to be there with my dad when he comes round, I'm going to be tied up here for a while." 

"God Kim...." Kate said, shocked at the news. "Of course I'll go see him.... I just don't know if he will want to see me..." She said, speaking her thoughts instead of thinking them.   
  
"Listen, before you go, I think I better fill you in on what's happened today." She said. 

The phone call ended up being over half an hour long. Kim had to let Kate know about Daniel, and Kate asked many questions. Then she got the details and address of Jacks hospital, and before parting, Kate had asked Kim to get out of L.A. as soon as possible, and they hung up assuring each other they would see each other at the hospital at some point. 

Kim hung up and sighed, their was still so much to do, she thought. She ran a hand through her weary eyes and began tapping at her keyboard. 

Kate was in hyper mode. She was grabbing her essentials from her office, her mobile and purse primarily. She ran out to her car with the directions scribbled down on a piece of scrap paper, gripped tightly in her hand. She got in and drove, her mind bombarding her with questions about the attack on L.A, (should she ring her father?) questions about Jack, his health, their relationship, and most importantly, his brother. 

She kept her eyes on the road at all times, but felt so guilty. She understood now, everything with Jack was slotting into place. Marie's involvement in the nuclear bomb had torn her up, but she had insisted on visiting her once a month. Jack and her would argue about this, he thought she should let go, but it was her sister, she couldn't. Eventually the rows about her had become too much, and Jack had claimed he couldn't be with someone who going to let her sister ruin her life; and so she had told him to leave. She had claimed her sister was more important than him, and had kicked him out. 

But now she knew why he would get agitated when she would visit Marie, and she understood now, just why he was so cold towards the topic, telling her she would be better off forgetting her. Because of his relationship with his own brother, he couldn't understand why Kate would let Marie hurt her so bad over and over again. She felt guilty, but also relieved too, she now knew why he was so detached from the subject. Still she wondered, why hadn't he told her about Daniel, it would have solved their problems, and probably saved their relationship, before she had ended it. 


	29. Chapter 29

Kate drove furiously down the roads, and after just under an hour, she arrived at the hospital. She found a space and pulled her Silver Peugeot 66 convertible into the spot. She climbed out of her car and ran up to the building, taking a second to look at how high up its structure was. She passed the ambulance bay and walked in through the main entrance doors. She walked briskly towards the reception desk.   
  
"Hi I'm here to see Jack Bauer; he was brought her earlier." As she spoke she noticed the stress in her voice, she certainly was worried. 

"Mr. Bauer had just been moved to recovery, you will need to take the elevator up to floor L, you will find him their." She said, in a typical enthusiastic monotone voice that all receptionists seemed to have. 

Kate followed her instructions and took the lift. She moved over to let a woman in a wheelchair in with her. She held her breath as the lift slowly ascended, she didn't feel conformable in places full of the sick. She got out at the appropriate floor, and walked down the corridor, her heels echoing loudly as they clonked hard against the hard floor. She noticed how quiet it was, and began peering through the wooden entrance frames to the rooms, which held 6 beds, and were full of people who didn't look too good. 

After walking the length of the corridor she realised she hadn't seen Jack, or at least, she didn't think she had. She walked by each room again, trying to look for him inconspicuously; hoping the other patients didn't think she was being rude. With no success, she went to find a nurse. 

"Excuse me, I'm looking for Jack Bauer, the receptionist told me he was on this ward?" 

"Hold on a moment." The nurse said kindly, before going off somewhere. Kate waited patiently, worried that something bad had happened which was why she couldn't find him. A few minutes later the friendly looking nurse returned. 

"He is in a private room, its just this way." Kate followed quietly, worried about seeing him now. What if he didn't want to see her, she wondered? 

"Here it is." The nurse informed, before going off somewhere else. 

Kate stood outside the door a moment, unsure of what she was going to say. Taking a deep breath she opened the door and entered. She closed the door behind her and kept her eyes on the floor, she didn't want to look at him, she was scared to see what was wrong with him. 

Slowly she lifted her gaze and looked at him. Her mind registered nothing, she was just happy to see him again, it had been a few weeks since she had made him leave, and she had missed him so much. 

She walked over to him, and sat in the brown padded chair next to his bed. She took a moment to look him up and down, and then assess the damage. He was laid on top of the blankets, she noticed, and wondered why this was. She saw he was wearing a pair of white shorts, and one of those strange gown type tops. On his leg, she noticed some thick bandaging, from the top, to just above the knee. She then noticed the bandaging around his entire left arm. She was now worried, and began to wonder just what had happened to him, it was obviously serious. 

She pulled her chair up closer to the white bed and, after brushing some of the stray strands of hair away from her face, gently rubbed his arm. She watched his face, and thought he looked almost angelic. No stress their, no pain present. No anger. Those were the three most common things she had been used to seeing on his face, and it made a change to see him like this. 

The nurse who had directed her to the room entered, and gave Kate a warming smile. 

"Sorry to interrupt, I need to give him some more drugs, it will just take a moment." 

"What happened to him?" She asked, almost fearing the answer. 

"His entire left arm, and that side of his chest took the best part of an explosion, it seems. We've done the necessary skin graphs and surgery on them, everything has been put into place for now." She said, gently, hoping not to startle the woman.   
  
"What's wrong with his leg, its all bandaged up." She said, noticing a hint if a whine in her voice. 

"We had to take tissue from their to reconstruct the damage on his arm, where it was worst." 

"Oh." Kate said, trying to wipe the horrible images of what it must look like from her mind. 

The nurse extracted some syringes into the i.v. bag leading into his arm, checked a few monitors and then left. Once alone again, Kate continued to rub his arm with one hand, and stroked the side of his face with the other. 

"I'm sorry Jack... I'm sorry you have to go through this again." She whispered. "I wish you had told me about Daniel... it would had made things easier for both of us.... I would have known why you couldn't understand why I needed Marie...... you don't need anyone, but.... I need you Jack. I'm sorry I never understood that until now." 


	30. Chapter 30

Tony picked up his phone and dialed Kim's terminal. 

"Hi its me." He said quietly as he herd her familiar voice answer, as she sat at the other end of C.T.U. 

"Uh... hi." She said, trying to compose herself quickly, she had been crying at her workstation. 

"Listen, I want you to know you did a brilliant job in the room with Daniel." He spoke sincerely, he meant every word of it. 

"Thanks." She replied sheepishly.   
  
"Anyway, Michelle's checking satellites, and may have a spot on this Joel person, as we've sent out his vitals to the LAPD. Chloé is getting through the encrypted e mails on Daniel's computer, and Adam and Scott are checking through the names related to Daniel and your father in the police reports. Oh, and Chappelle is still in my office twiddling his thumbs." H couldn't resist adding it on the end, and was glad to hear a small laugh from Kim, so he continued. "Anyway, I have requisitioned a chopper for you, it's waiting on the roof. It will take you straight to your Dad." 

Tony herd Kim try to reply, but as he suspected, she was lost for words. 

"Its okay Kim. I'm going to deal with Ryan, but you should go be with your dad, both of you have done enough today." 

"Tony, thank you so much, but are you sure, what about the threat?" She asked, hoping he wouldn't change his mind, she knew he wouldn't. 

"Don't worry about it, everything is taken care of. Anyway, I'm going to feel a whole lot better knowing you are out of the threat zone." 

His words touching her, she replied, "Thanks Tony; for everything." 

"Don't worry about it, just get going!" He said, laughing, trying to lighten the mood. 

The two said their good-byes and then she got up and headed to the end of C.T.U. He watched her leave through the door, not even bothering to sign out, she was eager to leave. The faster she was on the chopper, the sooner she was going to see her father. 

She sat in the back of the helicopter and looked out on the L.A. skyline as they ascended. She watched as the sun shone down on the city and smiled, she couldn't wait to be with her father again, when everything would finally be alright. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Tony jogged up to his office after he herd Chappelle throwing a fit and calling his name. As he approached the room he silently began to regret sending Kim away, this was why Chappelle was so mad, he thought. 

"Where have you been?" He yelled, he sounded worried, shocked; as well as angry.   
  
"What? Ive been at my station the entire time since the interrogation." He said, confused. 

"Who has had access to the holding room?" He blurted. He wanted answers, and fast. 

"What's going on Ryan? Only me and you have access to the room, unless you granted it to someone else?" 

"I have just gone into that room, Tony. The guards were still outside as we left them, but the room was empty." 

"What? Where is Daniel then?" 

"I don't know Tony, that's the problem." 

"Well, the guards will know, whoever it was, they let inside that room." 

"That's the problem Tony, they claim nobody had entered since you and Kim left." 

Tony stood in silence for a moment, shocked, as he tried to think about what this meant. 

"Well we need to find Daniel!" He said. "The guards must be lying Ryan, its the only plausible explanation. Their is no way to leave the room without going by them." 

" I'll move them to interrogation and have Hammond send some people over from Division to deal with them, I'll keep the alone until they get over, but I need you to find Daniel." 

"How are we going to do that? All our personnel is busy and we can't bring more people in, or the fire Marshall will shut us down. We have only just got rid of the barrier that was blocking our communications, our communications are still a little weak, we probably can't pull up sufficient surveillance of the area." 

Chappelle sighed. "So what should we do Tony, everything is going to pieces." 

Tony watched him as he raked a hand over his almost bald head, he seemed genuinely concerned. "We give out Daniel's vitals, check radios and scanners, basically keep an eye out for him. But he isn't the main importance here, we need to keep going at the data, the encrypted messages, and find Joel. The sooner we do that the sooner we get this bomb. I hate to say this, but Daniel isn't the main priority." 

"But what if he contacts the person responsible for the bomb, they could simply move its location or detonate it right away." Ryan asked. 

"We've got to take the chance that they wont." 

"That's a hell of a risk Tony, I don't know if I feel comfortable leaving it to chance." 

"What other choice do we have? And I'm willing to bet that Daniel doesn't go to the people responsible, they will kill him if they know he gave up information. He's not stupid, he knows he wont live through it. I bet he simply leaves L.A and lies low." 

"Okay Tony, we'll do it your way; I just hope your right." He paused as confirmation this was indeed what they were going to do. "You had better get back to work, we need to find these people, and fast." 

"Yes sir." Tony left the office and headed back over to his temporary terminal. Over the room he could see the two security guards being led into separated holding rooms. He sighed and wondered just how Daniel had escaped. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Daniel sat in the back of the black sedan, his handcuffs still binding his wrists together tightly. He wondered where they were taking him now. The man in C.T.U had said they were taking him for further questioning, but they had been driving for a while now, and neither the driver, nor the large man seated next to him had spoken a word throughout the journey. Still, they were wearing black suits, and looked like government agents, so he guessed they were official. 

He thought about Jack, and wondered where he was. When he had been arrested he had seen him being helped into a different helicopter from his own, and had no idea where he was now. He guessed they had taken him to the hospital, or hoped so at least. But he remembered how stubborn Jack was when he was younger, and decided that maybe he hadn't gone their after all. He had no idea what was going on with him, but he hoped he was okay. He thought about his niece, Kim. She had a hint of resemblance to her father, but their wasn't much. He couldn't remember what Terri had looked like, he had only seen a few photos of her before she was murdered, and that had been a long time ago. 

He kept his head looking out of the window and noticed they were still on the motor way. Where are they taking me, he questioned silently? The signs they were passing indicated to him that they were no longer in L.A, were they taking him away form the blast zone? It didn't make sense, he assumed they would have left him to sweat it out inside L.A. He hoped they would have let him die in the bomb, but he couldn't even get that right. He decided to try and get some information out for the two silent men. 

"Where are we going?" He asked, his voice determined, putting up the front that he didn't care where they took him; even though inside he did. 

"We wil be there soon." The driver said while glancing at him through the mirror. 

"Where is there?" He asked. 

"Enough talking." The man next to him said, whilst issuing him a menacing glare. Daniel said no more, he wasn't interested in irritating them, just curious. 

The car pulled off from the motor way onto a dirt road. After another ten minutes down the windy roads they pulled up besides a large, but abandoned type house. 

"What's this?" Daniel asked, wondering why they were here and not in a federal building. It was then it hit him, they weren't agents at all. "Who are you, what do you want?" He asked, his voice portraying a small amount of panic, although his mind was going in overdrive. 

"Shut up." The man next to him said, before slamming his fist into Daniel's stomach, winding him. As Daniel leant over gasping for breath the big man, accompanied by the driver pulled him out of the car and dragged him up to the house. They pulled him inside, and he was surprised to see it was fully furnished. It appeared to be abandoned on the outside, but the inside was far from it. 

He was dragged down one of the hallways, and tossed into a large dark room, where a man stood, facing a small rectangular window, looking outside. 

Daniel stayed put on the wooden floor, on his knees. He waited patiently, to see who it was. The man slowly turned around, and snarled. 

"I told you he would get us into trouble." 

Daniel instantly knew who he was referring to, Jack. 

"Joel...." Daniel said quietly, he knew he was in for it now. Joel would not be doing this on his own, his contact would have made him, he thought; which made his situation a whole lot worse. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Kim had been in the air for over half an hour, and was certainly enjoying the view, she didn't get to fly in a chopper too often. The hospital came into sight and they began their descent onto the heli-pad, on the hospitals roof. As she got out she was escorted inside by a woman who she presumed was a nurse. 

"Just this way Miss. Bauer, I'll take you directly to your fathers room." 

Kim was enjoying this special treatment, it made her feel important. Tony certainly had pulled a few strings. She followed the woman down a few stairs and soon enough they were outside a plain white door.   
  
"Here we are, I'll leave you here. He has been sedated, so I'm not sure when he will wake." 

"Thank you." Kim said sincerely before the nurse left her alone. 

Kim opened the door slowly, as she prepared herself for the sight that awaited her. The door made no sound as it opened and she saw Kate sat close by her dad, gently rubbing his arm, whispering to him. 

She watched for a moment and felt happy, it seemed Kate really cared about him, she just wondered it her dad felt the same way. After a few seconds had passed she began to feel as though she was trespassing, so she cleared her throat to let Kate know she was here. 

"Kim!" Kate looked up surprised, before running over and pulling her into an embrace. "I'm so glad you made it, I was so worried about you back in L.A, with the threat and all." 

Kim smiled, thankful of her concern. "Thanks .Tony pulled a few strings, so here I am." She smiled weakly, but then her eyes moved across the room to Jack. She walked over, now unaware of Kate's presence, and stood over him, looking down. She saw how pale he was, and watched him closely for a few moments, taking in every detail. From the heavy bandaging around his arm and leg, to the small line of stitches above his ear. She noticed their was some kind of dressing poking out from beneath the gown covering his chest, and just how still he was. 

"What happened?" She asked quietly, holding her arms tightly around herself, suddenly feeling very scared about her fathers present state.   
  
"They think he was in some kind of an explosion. They said they've repaired most of the tissue damage, its just the recovery." She paused as she walked over to Kim and put a protective arm around her. "He is going to get better Kim, the doctor made that clear to me. Its just a matter of time and perseverance." 

Kim nodded and slowly sat down, letting the news sink in. 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Are yah going to review??? BTW: Their is no Chase in this fic!!! (Meg= lol)


	31. Chapter 31

In the hospital Kim and Kate were sitting silently, one at each side of Jack. They watched his sleep worriedly, but neither voiced the concerns they had. Two doctors entered the room, startling them. 

"Sorry to disturb you. I'm here to see Mr. Bauer." The first man said. 

Kim nodded while Kate asked, "What do you need to see?" Although the question seemed a little rude, Kate was truly concerned about what else may be wrong with him. 

"We need to move him." The same doctor answered. 

"Where?" Kim spoke up, wanting to know if it was good or bad news. 

"To... recovery." The doctor answered, hesitantly. 

"This is recovery." Said Kate confused. "What's going on?" 

The second man was holding his ear, and she could make out what looked like an ear piece; somebody was listening in to their conversation. "Listen, I don't know what's going on here, and I want an explanation." She demanded, her worry for Jack turning into anger. 

Before she could say anything else the second doctor rushed over and shoved a dark metal device into her back, stunning her. She cried out for a second, before dropping to the floor unconscious. 

Kim jumped up both shocked and scared, whoever these men were, they were here for her father. She moved closer to him and stood before him, as though she could protect him. The doctor realised what she was doing straight away, and he spoke.   
  
"Kim you can come with me freely, or you can go like she will." He said pointing to Kate on the floor. The second man was whispering into a small device, and was holding his ear as he listened to his bosses instructions. He was told to take all three of them with them. 

Kim looked at the man and noticed a large thick scar on his cheek, which only made her fear him more. "Where are we going?" She asked quietly. 

"Nowhere. Now which way do you want it Kim." He said sternly in his gruff voice. 

"What do you want with my father? How do you know my name?" 

"This is your last chance Kim, are you going to come quietly, or do we have to make a scene?" 

Kim nodded, she decided that if she did go quietly, there was more chance she could protect both Jack and Kate. 

"Good." The man said. The second man came forward and pulled out Jack's I.V and carefully disconnected the machines he was hooked up to. Kim watched quietly, not liking what they were doing. 

The man finished with Jack and began to easily push his bed towards the open door, it had wheels on the bottom. It was only thin and fit through no problem. Kim followed the man moving her Dad, but before she left she turned to see the other man picking Kate up. She shook her head and followed. The second, larger man led them to the lift, and once they were down on the ground floor he headed in the direction of the ambulance bay. 

They got their and Kim saw a nurse look suspiciously at them. She walked briskly over, and Kim recognised her as the woman who had led her to the room. 

"What are you doing?" She asked. 

"I'm transferring the patient, as instructed." He stated blankly, staring her down. 

The nurse left them, as the so called doctor opened the back of the ambulance and pushed Jack up the ramp. Once inside he told Kim to take a seat, and instructed her to stay quiet. He then climbed out, closing the doors behind him. Making sure no one was paying direct attention to him he quickly climbed into the drivers seat closing the door behind himself. He found the keys where he had been told they were hidden, then started up the engine and headed away. 

The nurse who had questioned them stood over by the computer and saw that their had been no request for a transfer. She quickly ran back over to where she had seen the doctor, but found the ambulance gone. Worried now, she ran over to the security desk, wondering what was going on. 

Kim sat in the back of the ambulance, Jack showed no sign of stirring. She held his hand gently, and silently begged for him to wake up. He would save her, she thought. She thought of Kate and wondered what the man did to her as she hadn't been brought into the ambulance with them. She felt guilty, after all, if she hadn't called Kate she wouldn't be in the situation she was. She hoped her dad wouldn't be mad at her for involving Kate in it all, it wasn't her intention after all. 

_Come on guys, where you all gone??? _


	32. Chapter 32

Tony sat dumbfounded in C.T.U., still trying to make sense of how Daniel had escaped. There were no real leads going, but Chloé was close to breaking through the encryption on the laptops, which may contain vital information on the threat. He had rang Michelle's extension earlier and updated her on everything, and she was as shocked as he was. He now felt helpless, there was nothing he himself could do to help. The fact that the two guards were lying angered him, so he decided to go and question them. He knew that Chappelle had told him people from Division were on their way, but he felt that waiting for them was wasting time. 

He got up and headed over to the two holding rooms were they were stationed separately. He pulled out his access card and swiped it through holding one, where Brian Wilson, the most experienced of the two was held. Instead off hearing the usual sound, his card emitted a strange buzz, and the door didn't unlock. Confused he tried it again, and then a third time. Now angered he realised that somebody had over rode the access code; although it made it more secure, it also made it inconvenient for Tony. 

He made way to the second room, and again found that his card wouldn't open the door. Now fuming he stormed over to his office where Chappelle was tapping away on the keyboard. 

"What's going on Ryan, why can't I get into the holding rooms?" 

Ryan looked slightly uncomfortable with the question, before he answered. "Because I have somebody coming from Division coming Tony, and I want to keep the room sealed so no one can get in before they arrived." 

"Why, surely were wasting time keeping them locked away when I can be questioning them." 

Chappelle could sense the anger and determination in his voice and decided to change tactics. "You are entitled to your opinions Tony, however, so are Division, and its their opinions that matters. I was ordered to keep them alone until the interrogators arrived, and that is what I intend to do. Some of us Tony, unlike you and Bauer, understand what following orders means."

"But-" 

"Enough! I'm sure you can find something to do to help avert this disaster! Seen as you sent Kim Bauer away without my permission means that their is even more work that needs doing, so I suggest you get started." 

Tony left his office angered by how abrupt he was being, something seemed wrong. He walked over to his terminal and checked the service announcements and updates page. It was here his suspicion was confirmed, Division had given no order to Chappelle about keeping the men alone, it was Chappelles own so called opinion. Tony wondered why he was stalling for time, and picked up the phone, wanting to confirm more of his worries. 

After a brief conversation with Hammond, Tony hung up enraged. Chappelle hadn't even requested the interrogators from Division yet, there was nobody 'on their way' as he had said. Why was he going to so much trouble to keep those security men silent, he wondered. 

He got up to ask Chappelle this himself, he wasn't going to keep quiet about it. He left his terminal but before he was anywhere near Chappelle, Chloé blocked his path. 

"Tony. Somebody just called for you from some hospital." She said blankly. 

"What, who called? Which one?" He asked, not understanding. 

" I don't know, I told them they got the wrong terminal and I was too busy to transfer them over." She spoke as though she had done something completely natural. 

"You what!" He said, maddened further. 

"Jeez Tony I'm not an answering machine, you can take your own calls!" She yelled. 

"How can I take my calls if you don't transfer them to me!" He shouted, enraged. Before he could continue, a certain thought hit him, making him forget about Chloé instantly. He had no evidence to prove it, but he had a strong feeling in the pit of his stomach that the call was related to Jack, it had to be. Was he dead? He ran over to his terminal dialling the number to the hospital, knowing he was only confirming Jack's death. As he listened to the dial tone his silently cursed himself, he should have never left Jack in the warehouse, it was all his fault, he had killed Jack. 

_PPUURRRLLLLEEEAASSSSSSEEEEEEE review this!!!! Pretty please bats eyelashes with a 'how can you resist' smile LOL! _


	33. Chapter 33

Daniel watched Joel carefully as he continued to gaze out of the window onto the open land. Joel turned round and finally faced him, a look of upset on his tanned face. 

"What did you tell them?" He spoke calmly, although it was clear he didn't like what he was doing. 

"I told them nothing." 

"Don't lie to me." 

"I'm not lying, you know I don't lie." He tried, hoping that their friendship would cloud his judgement, they were partners after all. That was what scared Daniel the most, Joel his partner, wouldn't be doing this himself, it was someone higher up making him, someone who wouldn't take pity. like Joel would. 

"You lied to your brother." As soon as he said this Daniel's face dropped, he didn't want to get into this, not with Joel anyway. "You told him that we were in charge of this entire operation, you lied to impress him. If you can lie to your dear little brother, what's to stop you from lying to a nobody like me?" Joel's words stung, but he tried to ignore them. 

Daniel responded frantically. "Yes I lied to my brother. But remember, today is the first time Ive seen him in over twenty years, he is a stranger." He was regretting the words as soon as he spoke them, but he needed to convince him. "I can lie to a stranger, but I wouldn't lie to you." 

Joel walked right up to Daniel, their faces were merely inches apart. 

"Even if I believe you it doesn't matter. They won't believe you. They know that there are people looking for them bomb, and they believe that you are the weak link that told them about it." 

"Who are they?" Daniel asked, sensing he did have Joel on his side after all, seen as he wasn't saying 'we.' 

"Charlie and his men." 

At the very mention of Charlie Daniel's face dropped. He was in it now, knee deep. Charlie was the person who had orchestrated the entire thing, and he wasn't going to be happy when he realised that some little nobody working for him had compromised the entire thing. 

"Well... tell him I'm telling the truth then." Daniel stammered, his fear showing. 

Joel looked down, he knew Daniel wasn't going to like the next piece of information. "They will get the truth from you... they have already put plans into motion."

"What are you talking about?" Daniel snapped, thinking the men were going to hurt him. 

"Don't worry, they wont hurt you, at least not yet." He said, knowing what Daniel was thinking about. "But they will make you talk." He paused to check his watch. "And soon." 

With that the two false government agents grabbed his arms and led him out of the room. He was walked down a corridor and into a room. The room was averaged sized, but looked bigger because it was empty. The men pushed him forwards and closed the door behind him, locking it. Daniel looked around for a way out but it was four walls, and nothing else. And with his hands still cuffed behind his back it was pretty useless trying anything. He slumped down against one of the cold cement walls and began to think about what Joel had said. 

How did they intend to make him talk if they didn't hurt him? 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Tony dialled the hospitals number with a shaky finger, praying he wasn't going to be told that Jack hadn't made it. A chirpy woman answered the phone. 

"Hi, my name is Tony Almeida, erm... I work for C.T.U. and I think that someone tried to contact me from this hospital." As he spoke the words he realised how stupid he must sound. 

"I'm sorry sir but a number of people could have called for you, but we have no way of finding out whom, do you have a name?" She asked, genuinely trying to help. 

"Er... no, but I think it may concern a patient their." 

"Oh, well if you have the patients name it may narrow it down a little!" She laughed, trying to ease the tension evident in Tony's voice. 

"Jack Bauer." As he spoke the words he closed his eyes, fearing the worst.   
  
"Ah, I see. Please hold Mr. Almeida, I wil get someone more informed on the matter to speak to you." With that the voice was gone and elevator music was played down the line. He wondered why she needed to get somebody else to tell him about Jack. It wasn't hard, he thought, if he is dead then he is dead. 

After a few minutes waiting a male voice came on the line. 

"Hello?" 

"Hi yes, erm, they were getting somebody to speak to me about one of your patients Jack Bauer." 

"Right, well Mr. Almeida, we've got our security on it already-" 

Tony interrupted, not understanding.   
  
"Security? What are you talking about?" 

"Mr. Bauer was taken from the hospital under false pre tense, and an ambulance was also stolen." 

"What!" Tony said, confused and shocked, it was the last thing he expected.   
  
"A nurse saw the whole ordeal, a doctor claimed he was transferring him, but she checked the data and no transfer was requested, and we later found out that he was not a doctor from this hospital." The man tried to hide his embarrassment as he spoke, what had happened wasn't going to do them any favours. 

"What are you telling me here? That Jack was abducted from the hospital!?" 

"Yes sir." He said quietly. 

"Listen, I need you to send all of your surveillance over to C.T.U., and get local law enforcement's involved, and I want you personally, to update me on anything you find, okay?" He said, anxiously. 

"Sure." 

Tony hung up the phone and roughly grabbed his hair in frustration. Surely things couldn't get any worse. All of a sudden the thought hit him like a truck, Kim! He had sent her to the hospital to see Jack, where was she now? Had she been taken too He frantically picked up the phone while pressing re-dial, and waited for the worst. 


	34. Chapter 34

Kim was jolted awake as she felt the ambulance bang over a bump; and many more followed. She didn't realise she had fallen asleep and was mad at herself for doing so. She looked down and saw her dad was still asleep, the bumps on the road not stirring him, and she hoped they weren't causing him further pain either. She suddenly began to panic, as everything hit her at once. She was being kidnapped again, only this time her father couldn't save her. What was she going to do, she worried? Letting go of her fathers clammy hand she began to look around the back of the ambulance, but found it empty. That surprised her, as she thought that they would normally carry medical equipment in them, unless they had prepared and emptied everything out. 

Suddenly the vehicle came to a stop and Kim herd a door slam, just seconds before the two back doors were flung open. Outside it was bright and Kim had to squint to see the driver, along with three new armed men, waiting for her to get out. She stepped out slowly and one of the new three men grabbed her and began to tie her hands before her with rope. Kim didn't struggle, she stood still and watched as the two other men pulled Jack's gurney like bed down the ramp and began to move him towards what looked like an abandoned house. She looked around as the man pushed her forwards expecting her to follow, and she noticed the green land surrounding them. As though on que her eyes began to itch, hay-fever, she thought bitterly, as she realised she hadn't taken her medication for it this morning. She knew the fun was only just beginning, and would get worse the longer they stayed in this environment; she just prayed it wouldn't be too long. 

Daniel was still sat against the wall when Joel came in and pulled him to his feet. "Come on." He muttered angrily, it was obvious something was going on that he wouldn't like to see. 

He was pulled down the corridor into a large and spacious room, which was empty except for a fireplace which housed a large roaring fire, and a large brown sofa which he was pushed on to. He looked around and saw a female with long blonde hair laid on the pine flooring, with her hands tied together, she seemed to be unconscious, which she was. He studied her face across the room, well, the bits he could see through her hair that had fallen over it. He didn't recognise her and so gave up on trying to, he just wondered what she was doing their. 

His attention was then turned to the door as he saw Jacks daughter, Kim, pushed through the door, also tied up. She didn't see him at first, her attention was focused on the sleeping female. She ran over to her and began asking the men what they had done to her. The men ignored her as they pushed Jack through the door, still on the gurney, still asleep. As Daniel saw him enter the room he closed his eyes and dropped his head down onto his chest. It was clear why they were here, they were going to get him to talk, through his family. 

He silently looked for a way out and cursed at himself for getting them into his mess. Wasn't what he had done to Jack enough? Having him and his daughter, and the mysterious female kidnapped was surely going to break off whatever connection they had earlier rekindled, it was like pouring salt into the wound. 

Kim looked up to her father from Kate, and saw Daniel out of the corner of her eye. She jumped up and started shouting at him. "Your doing this! I though you were my fathers brother, how can you betray us like this, your own family!!" She screamed at the top of her voice, enraged at him. 

Daniel defended himself though. "This isn't my fault Kim, I never meant to get any of you involved, I don't want to be here any more than you do, but I didn't have a choice!" His voice portrayed his guilt, it was his fault. 

"Enough." Spoke a crisp accent, halting the argument instantly. 

Daniel looked up at the large man stood in the door frame, clad in a black suit. He swallowed nervously as he eyed up Charlie, then fear set in. 


	35. Chapter 35

Tony hung up the phone and squeezed his eyes shut. 'This can't be happening,' he thought. His wife's gentle touch caught his attention, as though dragging him back to reality from his thoughts. 

"Hey." She said softly. She had noticed how tense he was and knew something was wrong. "What is it?" She asked, fearing the answer. She knew it was about Jack. 

Tony let out a small laugh as he herd her words, before saying, "It would be easier to tell you what's right." Michelle didn't laugh at his weak attempt of humour, she looked at him concerned. Tony sighed before informing her, "I just got a phone call form the hospital where Jack is." He paused briefly as he organised his thoughts before proceeding, Michelle knew not to interrupt, she just hoped Jack wasn't dead. "It appears that Jack was taken from the hospital illegally, by a man imposing as a doctor." 

Michelle's mind instantly went in overdrive with hundreds of questions, but for some reason she held them back, she sensed their was more to come. 

"And... I have just received confirmation that Kim was also taken." 

This time she didn't hold back. "Do we know their intent, it may have been accidental. Are we positive both were taken? Together? Do we know where they are now? Is this connected to Daniel's disappearance?" 

Tony didn't answer and questions, his head hurt too much. "They're sending over the surveillance and I want you to I.D the perp. And get Chloé on satellites over the area. This is definitely related to the threat." 

Michelle nodded whilst scribbling some notes down on a yellow post it note. She looked up to see Tony's already retreating back. She asked, "What are you going to do?" 

As he turned around to face her, her breath caught in her throat as she saw the menacing angry yet slightly saddened look upon his face. He announced, his tone even, displaying no emotions. "I need a word with Chappelle." 

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Kim stood silently and moved over to where her Dad was, in the centre of the room. Daniel's presence angered her but also gave her the courage to speak to the man in the doorway, who's presence had seemed to have scared everyone silent. 

"What do you want with us?" Her voice was strong and determined. 

Charlie moved into the room silently, his large legs carrying him over to Kim quickly. He stood so they were merely inches apart, then hunched over so their faces were level. He raised a thick finger from his bare like hands and brought it up to his lips. "Ssshhhhhh." He said, as Kim slowly backed away towards her father, understanding his message perfectly. She laid a protective hand on his shoulder and mentally prepared herself to watch the events unfold before her. Out of the corner of the room she saw the three goons stood against the cream wall waiting for orders, their expressions blank. 

It was clear who was in charge, and Charlie would be running the show from here. 

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Short update I know! Review :)


	36. Chapter 36

Charlie slowly began to pace around the room, one of his huge hands sat around his square jaw, as he tutted mockingly. He stopped in the centre and looked around at everyone in the room. Then, with a slight smirk on his face, he spoke, his tone mocking. 

"Look at this, our guests are asleep. How very rude." As he spoke he looked directly over at the three silent goons, who immediately understood what he wanted doing. 

One walked over to Kate, and produced a small silver object from his inside pocket. He placed the object under her nose and clicked twice. Seconds later she jumped awake, confused and disorientated. The two other men walked past her to Jack. They stood next to him and both placed their hands underneath his uninjured side. Together they flipped him over off of the gurney, onto the wooden floor. Jacks eyes snapped open, glazed over with pain. He couldn't comprehend what was happening, he was on the floor somewhere, not in the hospital. He laid still on the floor pain juttering throughout his side and arm as they had hit the floor hard. He twisted over onto his back, trying to relieve some of the pain. As he did so he began to feel more twinges of it through his leg, he didn't know what had happened their. 

He looked around groggily trying to see where he was, and didn't like what he saw. Kate was looking around the room, as confused as he was. Over the other end he saw Kim stood against a wall, one of the three men holding her against it, after she had tried to run to her fathers aid. He immediately felt both worried and mad at the sight of Kim. Whatever it was that was happening here, it wasn't going to be good. As he continued to survey the room he saw a large man watching him carefully, he was extremely big, and Jack could easily tell his bulky frame was made of muscle not fat. He saw a couch and then saw the person sat on it, fear consumed the mans face as they locked eyes. At the sight of Daniel he was enraged, this was why he was here. His so called brother had got himself along with his daughter and.... a friend, in danger. Just because of his stupidity, all of them were in danger. 

Charlie looked over to the two thugs who had thrown Jack on to the floor, and gave a slight upwards motion of his head. The two silent men each grabbed hold of Jack and pulled him up on his feet, and he let a small moan escape him as they did so, the pressure on his leg hurting, and the movement of his arm even more so. The two men moved away as Kim ran over to him after the thug restraining her had let go, and gently held his good arm, steadying him as he wobbled slightly from the dizziness obstructing his head and vision from all angles. 

Charlie watched as she did this, then looked around at all of his guests. In just seconds he had a quick reading of everyone, he was good at reading people, and liked to do so. He could see that the woman named Kate was confused, the daughter was worried, Daniel was scared, and his brother Jack, he was.... Charlie had a hard time reading Jack, his eyes seemed to flash with a spark of anger, but he couldn't tell for sure. He decided that he was in pain, that would do for now, but he made a mental note in the back of his mind, he would get a proper reading on him later. 

Taking a breath he spoke again, after getting his little reading on everyone. His loud yet deep voice echoed around the room, and silenced the roaring fire. "We had better get started with the introductions. I'm sure you three know each other rather well," He said gesturing to Kim and Jack, and Kate who had just shuffled over towards them out of fear. "These men are my associates, and this, whom I assume you know Jack, is Daniel." 

As he said the name Kate glared over at him. So that was Jack's brother then. She had instantly noticed their resemblance to each other when she first came round, but never actually made the connection between the two. She guessed this was something to do with him, and once again she was getting dragged into Jacks dangerous world, and she had only re-entered his life merely hours ago. 

She looked over at him and didn't feel the usual reassurance she did when she stood by his side. His eyes were drooping slightly, he was still wearing the white shorts and was wrapped in bandages like a mummy. He was leaning his weight on one leg, which meant him bandaged leg was hurting him. She saw that his expression concealed his pain, but she knew him well enough to know that he never allowed it to show. And because his body was so tense, she was certain he was hurting. 

One thing she knew for sure, was that he wouldn't be able to save them this time. 


	37. Chapter 37

Tony stormed into his office and slammed the door behind him, startling Ryan. 

"Almeida, how's the intel coming."   
  
"Why don't you tell me what your playing at Ryan." He spoke in a deadly threatening tone. 

"What?" Chappelle asked, confused. 

"Don't blow me over Ryan. I know that you are postponing the interrogations of those two men, so you better have a damn good excuse or I swear to God I'll make sure your locked up for life if your playing both sides." 

"Don't be ridiculous! I'm not stalling nothing Tony, your out of your mind, I'm acting on orders form Divison." He shouted, enraged at his accusation. 

"Oh yeah, then tell me Ryan, why haven't Division notified it on their server page?" '_Got ya sucker_,' Tony thought. 

"We are treating this threat seriously and the people who know about those two men, are only people with a high security clearance. That it why it is not on the main page Tony. Now get to work and stop wasting my time with this nonsense! You need to be working on this bomb not checking up on me, now go!" He yelled angrily, as Tony left embarrassed. 

Tony stormed down into the main area of C.T.U, both mad and embarrassed. _'I must really look a fool,'_ he thought. After a minutes reflection he decided it had been a small hunch to go on, and Chappelle was right, you needed a security clearance to know the information. He realised that working with Jack was taking its toll on his growing paranoia. 

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Charlie continued to circle the room, eyeing his guests like a lion does his prey. After a few minutes thought, he spoke, directing his words to Daniel. 

"As you can see, we have been so graciously joined by some family of yours. Now, I will only ask you once, what did you tell C.T.U about our plans?" He spoke calmly, although Daniel had no doubt that he could flip in a matter of seconds. 

"I told them nothing. They didn't ask. Your men took me before they had chance to interrogate me." He tried to match Charlie's calmness to try convince them he was telling the truth, but he kept gulping with fear. After he finished he sneaked a look over to Kim, he hoped this wouldn't cause a problem, seen as she had interrogated him herself. _'Jesus,'_ he thought_, this is getting too complicated_. 

"I see." Charlie said. "That was rather unfortunate timing wasn't it?" 

Daniel nodded his head in agreement, not wanting to trigger him by speaking. 

"Do you agree?" Charlie asked, now spinning his head in Kim's direction. 

_'Oh shit_,' Daniel thought, _'he's done his homework_.' 

Kim was a little startled, before she nodded her head nervously. "Yea, yeah, when the interrogators arrived his room was empty. You beat us to him." She tried to look disappointed, but gave up, she knew she looked scared, so she might as well show it. 

"Ah." Charlie said, rubbing his hands together. " I see." He paused to look directly at Jack before continuing. "I see you have two liars in the family." 

With that he rushed over to Daniel and grabbed him by the metal cuffs holding his hands behind his back and then threw him onto the floor. 

"It is not wise to lie to me." He sneered, before kicking him. Daniel lay on his stomach, not moving. He didn't want to provoke an attack. 

Charlie stalked over to Kim and Jack moved in front of her to protect her. Kate had already backed away out of fear. Charlie saw what Jack had done and swung for his face. Jack reached up and blocked the punch with his left arm, sending agonising pain through it as he did so, causing him to cry out. Charlie didn't waste a second, and threw another two swings into his chest, sending him to the floor gasping for breath through the white hot pain. He took a second to catch his breath before pushing himself up through the pain, before one of the three goons approached him with his gun aimed at him, the safety off. Jack understood what this meant and slumped back to the floor in agony, his injuries form the day taking their toll. Seconds later he could feel Kate at his side, she was trying not to cry with fear and from seeing him in pain. 

Charlie turned back to face Kim, satisfied that Jack was under control, and grabbed a fistful of her short blonde hair pulling her up so they were level. 

"Do not lie to me little girl." He hissed into her ear, before throwing her onto the floor to join Jack. She crawled over to him and she too could see how much pain he was in, blood soaking though the bandages on his chest already. He looked like he was going to pass out, and she hoped he would, as it would take him from his physical pain, and the pain of seeing his daughter handled roughly. It wasn't something he was accustomed to. 

Charlie watched as she crawled over to her father, and was about to go get her again when his mobile rang. 

Opening the silver flip phone up he answered, and seemed a little frustrated from what he was hearing. After giving his worker instructions he hung up, angered. 

"So, you told them nothing huh?" He asked Daniel. "Then why is C.T.U. close to finding our location on the bomb?" 

"I.... I told them nothing!" Daniel protested, knowing he had disclosed nothing of the location. 

Charlie stood over him a dangerous look in his eyes, until he herd Kim speak up, as she pushed herself up off the floor, despite her fathers wishes. 

"Its true. An analyst has been working on encrypting information we found at the safe house. That's where she will have got it from. There is no other way." She had to make herself stop from smiling, thinking she had calmed him down and got Daniel out of the deep end, but in reality, she had almost drowned him. 

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Review dude !! 


	38. Chapter 38

"Almeida." Tony answered in a depressed tone, still angry and disappointed with his assumption about Chappelle; he had been way off base. To make matters worse the interrogators had recently arrived at C.T.U , and introduced themselves to Tony, by the order of Ryan, who was no pouring salt into the wound. 

"Tony its Chloé. I switched tasks with Scott like Michelle asked, and I finally managed to get through the firewall, I have decrypted the e-mails. I may have a location on the device as the files contained co-ordinates buried deep within the system, and they coincide with the mall, downtown." 

Tony was still caught up in his observation that she talked like a robot, and it took his a moment to recognise what she was saying. 

"Great, I want you to go help Scott on those satellite images on Jack." Before he could hang up she added, "Is that it?" Her voice more animated, taking an annoyed tone. 

"Is what it?" Tony asked, his patience running out. 

"Gee, no thank you or well done, after what I have managed to do?" 

"We have a bomb to find, Chloé, so I have more important things to do than stroke your ego, okay." He snapped before slamming the phone down. He then shouted Michelle over, who was trying to pretend she hadn't been listening in on their conversation. 

"I need LAPD to do a Level 1 evac. of the mall, get the co-ordinates from Chloé. Also get all available field agents down their, along with the bomb squad team, now." 

He didn't wait for a response, he simply headed straight for Chappelle, to get permission to co-ordinate things down at the mall, back and forth to C.T.U. He wanted to make sure this bomb was stopped, and he was wasted at C.T.U. 

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Charlie looked at Kim quizzically while Daniel stared at her from the floor, hoping she would realise the mess she had just made for him. Unfortunately for Daniel, she didn't. 

"Is that so?" Charlie asked. 

Kim nodded her head then backed away back down to Jack who was looking around absently, not paying attention to the proceedings at all. His head was somewhere else. One of the thugs pulled Daniel up form the floor and held him in front of Charlie. 

"You left information on your hard drive, even after my warning about the possibility of interception." His voice easily conveyed his rage, which was exactly what he wanted, to be intimidating. 

Daniel shook his head rapidly, hoping to convince him. Loosing his patience he moved over to Kim and pulled her up by her throat, causing her to scream. 

"I hope your telling me the truth." He hissed. 

"I... am." She managed to choke out, the grip around her neck tightening. Jack was back with the land of the living, reluctantly laying on the floor, with a gun pointed at him. His hands were clenched so tightly that they bled, and his eyes were full of unmistakable rage. Kate had no doubt that he would kill this man the first chance he got, his face told it all. 

Realising what she had to do, Kate ran over to Charlie pleading for him to let go, and he did, turning around to face this new annoyance and see what she wanted. Grabbing her chin with his huge hand he forced her to face him. 

"Who are you?" 

"K.. Kate." She whimpered. 

"What is your connection to these people?" He asked, his voice still menacing. 

"I'm a friend of Jack's." She spoke slowly. 

"Ah... well let me give you some advice Kate. I suggest you stand with your back against that wall and keep your mouth shut, or Jack here, will find himself with one less friend, and you, a bullet in your head." He shoved her in the direction of the wall and she stood as instructed, too scared to disobey. 

"Where were we?" He asked, letting out a hearty laugh to calm himself down. "Ah, I remember, we were debating over some decrypted e-mail were we not?" 

He stood by Daniel. "I have to be honest.... I believe her." 

The colour drained from Daniel's face but he didn't bother to deny it anymore, their was no point. He knew he would be lucky if Jack didn't kill him for putting Kim in danger, and that was if he survived Charlie first. 

Charlie watched him in amusement before speaking, "Lets go somewhere more private." At the click of his fingers too of the three men grabbed him and frog marched him out of the room, Charlie in tow. The remaining man closed the door and stood before it with his gun out, they were not leaving. 

Kim moved over to Jack and knelt besides him, gently rubbing his hand, telling him it was okay, she as fine. She knew she had to reassure him or he would do something stupid. Kate did not leave the wall. 


	39. Chapter 39

Scott slammed his fist into his desk, not in frustration with Chloé this time, but with excitement with what he had found. 

"I got it" He yelled, his eagerness getting the better of him. 

"What? You can't have, I'm still filtering through the hospital images." Chloé retorted, obviously thinking the new kid had got it majorly wrong. 

"Yeah, well while you were busying yourself with that, I tried it from a different stance, I got footage of an un-sub leaving the apartment we caught Daniel in, probably his partner. In followed the vehicle across the country to an abandoned looking building, I'm just downloading the co-ordinates now. I filtered through the satellites over that area at intervals, and six hours later an ambulance pulled up, containing both Bauers!" His words came out fast, their was no time to breath, he was too excited. Chloé stared at him annoyed. 

"Why didn't you tell me you were getting images of the house?" 

"Does it matter? Your just pissed that I got it and you didn't. I'm going to tell Michelle." With that he left a seriously annoyed Chloé sat at her station, with nothing to show for her satellite images. 'It doesn't matter,' she told herself. 'He only found Jack, but I found the bomb.' With that she smiled to herself before closing down her document folder, satisfied with herself. 

Scott told Michelle what he had found and she finished collecting the co-ordinates. She rang up Chappelle, who then sent three tactical units to the grid Scott found. He hoped they were right with this one, with Tony at the mall, and a possible lead on his missing agents it seemed things were wrapping up here, he hoped so at least. He would find out in ten to fifteen minutes, when they arrived. 

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Jack smiled at Kim, happy that she was okay. His thoughts were disturbed when he herd a terrifying scream which made his blood curl. It came from a different room, and he couldn't help but fear it belonged to his brother. Now sat up he looked around the room, ignoring Kim, who was asking him what was wrong. What did he think was wrong, he thought angrily, trying hard not to snap at her, it was his fault she was here, in danger after all. He scanned the room and didn't see anything of significance, other than a few instruments sat by the fire in a brass holder. He kept that in mind as he struggled to stand up. Kim stood up with him and asked, 

"Dad what are you doing." She asked in a low voice hoping the man guarding the door didn't hear, but it didn't matter. He had seen Jack moving around, he was going to be careful, but for now he just stared ahead, as though the room was empty. 

Jack slowly backed away from Kim towards the fire, but before he was close enough their was a sharp knock at the door. The thug opened the door and Charlie stormed into the room looking angry. Jack s eyes went directly to the fresh blood on his shirt and hands. It had to be Daniel's. The thought both scared and angered him. 

Charlie stalked over to Kim. 

"What did C.T.U find out from his computer?" 

Kim shook her head confused. "I don't know I mean we weren't partially through when I left'"   
  
"Do not lie to me." He roared, not realising she was telling the truth.   
  
"I'm not." Kim said backing away, she was telling the truth, she didn't know what else to say. 

"Can you prove it?" He asked her impatiently.   
  
"I can ring them and-" 

"And let them trace the damn call! Do you think I am stupid!" 

"No... no.... its just-" Her stuttering stopped as she saw Charlie was no longer interested in her words. 

He barged across the room and grabbed Jack by his arms, seen as he was only wearing a pair of shorts and a few rolls of bandages, their was nothing else to grab. Without hesitation he brought him knee into Jack's groin, who collapsed to the floor immediately, groaning in pain. Charlie glanced at Kim smirking, before he placed his thick combat boot onto the bandaged area at the top of Jack thigh. He wasn't placing and weight on it yet, but Kim understood what his intentions were. Jack didn't seem to notice the boot, he was too busy with the pain he was suffering from. 

"Don't!" Kim yelled, hoping to stop him. Charlie didn't move, he just stared at Kim, waiting for her to tell him something she didn't know. "Please, don't, I don't know what they know! I left before they broke through-" 

Kim's pleas were cut off by Jacks cry of agony as Charlie lent on the leg, adding pressure. It wasn't much, he could do plenty more - but this seemed to be painful enough to Jack.   
  
"Stop it!" She tried, desperately thinking of something to make him stop. Jacks gasps for breath were clouding her thoughts, she just wanted him to stop.   
  
"Please leave him alone, I know nothing, I.. I swear!" 

Charlies facial expression changed from a smirk to concentration as he pushed all of his weight down onto the leg - and Jack's cries got louder as the pain became unbearable. 

Charlie finally let go and moved away slightly, looking at Kim. Kate stayed against the wall, horrified, but still too scared to move. 

"Kim, I would like to hear the truth, or your father will be in much worse shape than he was earlier today." He stared at her deadly serious, and Kim had no doubt he would hurt him, he had already proved that to her. 

Kim had tears in her eyes. She simply shook her head lightly, how could she tell him something she didn't know. 

Charlie watched her then raised his eyebrows. "Fine, have it your way." 

He turned and began to kick Jack viciously in his stomach, aiming for the areas which he knew were already injured, hoping to cause further pain. As he continued to kick Jack Charlie drowned out his yells and Kim's screaming. He began to laugh as he realised he was actually moving Jack along the floor from the force of his kicks, as his head banged against the tiled half around the fireplace. 

Charlie stopped and studied Kim for a moment, tears streaming down her face, her voice now hoarse form screaming at him. His man holding her back as she had ran at him in a feeble attempt to stop him. He laughed again as he thought, 'like anyone could stop me.' 

Jack felt his head bang against the tile and realised he was near the fire, the heat now surrounding him made that pretty clear. Jack saw his chance, he knew he may not get another, he just hoped the thug wasn't carrying a gun. He watched Charlie who wasn't looking in his direction as he reached out and grabbed the cold yet sharp poker from the stand. 

Charlie herd metal scrape against metal as Jack swiped the weapon out. He was too late. As he turned around Jack leaped up and swung the poker with all of his might, hitting him in the face, dropping him to the floor. After seeing that the man was down and wouldn't be getting back up he looked up to see the thug un-holstering his weapon. Jack stood defenceless, he could do nothing. The thug frantically pulled at his gun, but he snagged it on his jacket, causing him to fumble. As the thug approached him rapidly while trying to get his hands around his weapon the door burst open, and SWAT men filled in quickly, their weapons readied. The first man through the door saw the thug and his threat to their agent, and wasted no time in dropping him with a double tap to the head. 

Jack stood, taking it all in. It had happened in a few seconds, that was all it had taken. If that young goon hadn't fumbled his gun, he knew he would be dead, and maybe Kim and Kate too. Timing, he thought sickly. At the thought of loosing Kim Jack lost control and began to slam the heavy metal bar down onto Charlies bloodied face, he didn't stop, the images of him choking his daughter filtered into his mind, fuelling his rage as he continued to attack the defeated man. Two of the many SWAT men pulled him away and fought to get the poker from him, Jack didn't resist, he had no energy left. 

He slumped to the floor in pain and exhausted, his mind a mental wreck. Kim ran into his arms and started crying, and he held her rocking back and forth. Seconds later he realised that Kate was stood at his side too, also crying. He looked at her and then moved over so he could hug them both. 

The medics waited patiently before they sedated Jack, after a brief inspection they decided their was too much damage done to the repaired tissue, and he would need to go under again, to reduce the scar tissue and readjust some of the work on his leg and chest. 

Jack felt content as he lay on the gurney before the ambulance, Kim and Kate at either side of him smiling. In the field across the road he could make out a bloodied Charlie and the two other goons being led into the choppers restrained, although his blurry vision was making it harder to see, he felt even better knowing no one had escaped. The SWAT men were also leading a few other people out form the house who had hid. He made a mental note to check Joel was one of those persons, his vision could no longer identify him. 

Before he drifted of to complete unconsciousness he saw his brother being led out of the house on a stretched similar to his own. That reminded him that all was not better, their was still the threat, and of course, his brother to deal with. 

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This thing is finally wrapping up, should have it done in a few more chapters. Please review, they mean a lot to me.. sad I know ....but still.... lol. 


	40. Chapter 40

Tony Almeida stood behind the police cars open door, studying a small map he had been given, displaying the schematics of the mall. Sirens wailed in the background, and the _wap wap _of helicopters rotators in the sky could be herd constantly, Tony had no doubt that their was as much tactical in the sky as their was news reporters, trying to get a glimpse of something spicy to put on the news tonight. They were getting more than they bargained for, seen as none actually knew of the threat, just the fiasco which was unravelling down town. 

Tony checked his watch and readjusted the ear piece that sat in his left ear, currently giving off static. So far a third of the mall had been searched by a bomb team and sniffer dogs. So far, nothing. Tony didn't know if that was good or bad, but he knew the thing was here. The grids in the computer made it a possibility, but the feeling in his gut told him it was here, and he always followed his instincts. He patiently waited to hear the signal that they had the bomb, their was nothing else he could do. He had received a call earlier telling him that they had rescued the Bauers and taken some hostiles into custody. Tony couldn't help rub his hands together with excitement, despite the danger present, he couldn't help but smile as he realised that this was the final piece of the puzzle. 

The crackling in his ear brought him back to reality as he realised a message was being submitted to him. 

"Sir, do you copy?" 

"Yeah I hear yah." Tony replied, anticipating the news. 

"We have a location on the device. It is located in the lower north of the building, bomb squads have moved in, I repeat, we have a location on the device and the bomb squad is currently in control, over." 

Tony rubbed his head, it was now or never. Either they disarmed it, or detonate it. Either way he had no control over either. He rang Chappelle and informed him of the progress. Chappelle didn't seem as happy as Tony was, he was still concerned with the process of disarming it; anything could go wrong. They were going to have to sit tight. 

Tony had waited by the squad car over an hour, but he couldn't take any more. Checking his map with a quick glance he headed inside the mall, flipping his C.T.U i.d. open for the cops in front of the entrance cornered off with yellow tape, so they would let him through. He walked through the deserted shopping complex and had to admit to himself what a strange sight it was, seeing it completely deserted. It seemed weird as it was usually crammed full with people carrying hundreds of bulging carrier bags barging into you from every direction. 

He made his way down the steps to the lower level, and after a brief memory check of which direction he needed to head in, he arrived. He could see the device clearly, it was hooked into the inside of a Coke machine and was quite large. Judging from the size of the device he was clear that it would have taken out a chunk of the L.A population, and would easily have reached C.T.U too. 

He was silent as he watched the four men work with the wires. Finally plucking up the courage to speak, he asked, "What's the score here guys?" 

"It depends." One man said. "Were as far through the route as we can get. Theirs only one thing left to do, and it will either cause detonation, or will disarm. Its been fitted with a altered design, which is why we've come to this ultimatum." 

Tony watched him carefully, he could see how hard this was for the man. 

"So what do we do?" He asked, dreading the answer. 

"Theirs nothing we can do, its a fifty fifty chance, it depends if the trigger is in the root or not... and we have know way of knowing." 

After a minutes silence nobody had spoken. 

"Do it." Tony said. 

"What?" The man asked. 

"Do it. For all we know the thing could detonate any minute. If we don't try stop it, it will go off today at some point anyway. We have nothing to lose by trying, and if it does blow.... well... all we've done is speed up the process... at lease we managed to do a level one evac.... we have saved some lives." 

The man watched as he spoke, determined. He didn't show an ounce of fear, yet the man was certain he would be scared, they all were inside, he thought. 

The man nodded and looked at his team, all were white, afraid of the outcome. 

"Were all agreed its the green which needs to be disconnected?" 

The other three men nodded and Tony took a step back, giving the man space. He was about to take one huge risk by Tony's order, and the last thing he wanted to do was put him off by breathing down his neck. 

The man had his fingertips lightly around the wire, but he turned around to Tony, for motivation more than anything. 

Tony nodded his head briefly, before saying, "Its okay." 

The men locked eyes, before the man turned and grabbed a delicate silver instrument from his tray. He took it and turned the blade so it was resting on the wire. Tony held his breath, his nerves getting to him. 'This could be it,' he thought to himself. 

The man also took a deep breath, and then slit the wire through the middle, ripping it away from the core of the bomb. 

Tony couldn't help but close his eyes as he herd the loud wail come from the device, immediately after the wire was cut. The noise got louder and Tony could only presume it was about to detonate. After a few more painstakingly slow seconds passed by he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

He opened his eyes to see the main man from the team looking at him, tears in his eyes. 

"We did it." He whispered, his emotions obviously overtaking him. 

Tony nodded his head, he understood, he looked at the man and threw his arm around him in relief, before saying a very appreciative "thank you." 

He left the four rejoicing men of the bomb squad and held the speak button of his radio. 

"This is Almeida, the threat has been eliminated, I repeat, the threat has been eliminated." 

Tony listened to the responses through his ear piece, laughing like a child on Christmas day. He could hear cheering, whooping, high five's, well done's, everything. He pulled out his cell and rang C.T.U, asking for Michelle, screw Ryan he thought, she can tell him. 

"Hey baby." He greeted, the tension finally free from his voice. 

"Hey." She said, waiting to hear what she had to say, no one at C.T.U yet knew if it was going to be good news or bad." 

"Its over, sweetie." He whispered, trying not to break down. He was so relieved he could barely talk, this nightmare day was coming to a close. 

He smiled to himself as he herd exasperated response, then he told her he had to go but he'd come in to pick her up. They were both having the rest of the day off, he had decided. 

He hung up the phone and jogged over to the LAPD and other men form law enforcement. After emitting many "good job's" and "well done's" he slumped into his car. He started up the engine and headed towards C.T.U, where he planned to pick up Michelle and go straight home, to spend the evening in her company, without any tension or stress; and in a sense, to recover form the days exhausting toll on him. He knew they deserved it, everyone at C.T.U did. Jack didn't cross his mind once. 

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Well, almost done here, shold be over in one or two more chapters! 

As always review.... it makes me update faster y'know!!! 


	41. Chapter 41

Tony picked Michelle up and she got into the car, clearly tired, the day had exhausted her too. As she got in she told him that Kim had rang and given her an update on Jack's condition. They had taken him straight back into surgery to try undo some more damage caused. She also gave him an update on Daniel, apparently he too was brought into surgery, to have his ear reattached. Kim said she didn't know what had happened, but he was separated. Michelle told Tony that was all she had said, seen as she would be debriefed soon. She then updated him on the men brought into C.T.U by helicopter from the house where they had found Jack. They were currently being interrogated, that was all she knew. 

Tony just watched her give him the information, not really taking it in. He was just happy that the day was over, and the threat was gone. He felt slightly guilty about forgetting about Jack, but the two agreed to ring Kim later for an update, and they would visit him tomorrow, if he was in recovery by then. At that moment all Tony wanted to do was go home and curl up on the couch with his wife tucked away safely in his arms. 

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Jack had been through the surgery hours ago, and was laid asleep in the recovery room. Once again the doctors had repaired the damage done to his chest, this time repairing and replacing the stitches to the new tissue. The needed to take a bit more from his leg to repair all of the damage, then they had to deal with the thigh. It looked worse than it was, they discovered once inside. It was a simple case of restoring their work, and bandaging it all back up. They were certain his leg would be fine in a matter of days. They were also sure, however, that his chest and especially his arm were going to take weeks to heal at the best, and the arm would need further work once the outer layer had repaired itself. It would be a few months before he was back on his feet like before. 

Tony and Michelle had called by earlier, for which Kim was grateful, but Jack didn't come round, he slept softly under the influence of drugs. They had left after a few hours, and Kim promised that she would ring them when he was awake. She also asked them to tell Chappelle she would go in to debrief when she had the time, but she wasn't leaving her dad. Tony said he would tell him, which pleased her as she knew he would tell Ryan that was the way it was going to be, despite his complaints and demands. 

The next day Jack had finally come round from his dug induced haze, while Kim was sat patiently at his side, and Kate stood against the far wall, apprehensive about what she was going to say. After the greetings and 'how are you's' Kim hit him with some hard news. 

"Dad, Charlie ripped Daniel's ear off. They weren't able to reattach it, apparently he is in a bad way.... and C.T.U is planning on prosecuting him once he is fit enough." 

Jack thought about it hard, but said nothing. He knew what was coming next, Kim would want to ask him about why he kept the news of his brother away form her his entire life. He smiled at Kate who had moved across to his other side, hoping her to be a little easier on him, he didn't expect any grief from her. Little did he know, he would be getting a roasting from her too, seen as that small piece of information would have saved their entire relationship. 'Did he keep it back so we would end?' She wondered, 'At least I'll find out,' she thought, slightly bitter at the idea. 

"Kate could you give us a minute?" He asked, his voice hoarse. 

Once she had left Kim opened her mouth to speak, but Jack quickly shut her off. "Kimberly don't... I know I owe you an explanation." He spoke sheepishly, looking over at the wall, anything to avoid her eyes. 

"I just don't understand why you never told me you have a brother." 

"I know, you have every right to be confused." He broke off and sighed as he ordered his thoughts. 'Keep it simple,' he thought. 

"Daniel looked after me when our parents died.... one night their was an accident and I got hurt... he had to leave or he would be arrested.... and I never saw him after that, until today. That was over twenty years ago... so I never thought their was any point in telling you.... Kim.... I know you can't understand where I am coming from... but it hurt me a lot, and I didn't want to hurt you by telling you about him, especially as it seemed as though their was no point." 

Kim watched him as he explained his reasoning with her, his eyes now closed. She realised that once again, in the weird way that he did everything, he had ultimately been thinking of her best interests. 

"I understand Daddy...." She kissed him on the cheek. "I'm going to get a drink and ring Tony and Michelle.... but I think Kate wants to talk to you." 

"Okay hunni." He whispered, silently thanking God she wasn't angry with him and his lies. He wondered what Kate wanted to speak about, was their another chance for them? He had no idea she was also hurt with the Daniel revelation. 

As she came into the room he couldn't help but let his eyes light up at the sight of her. 'She looks beautiful' he thought. She crossed the room and sat in the chair Kim had occupied earlier. She gently grabbed his hand while asking, "How are you feeling." 

"All right I guess." He replied, not paying attention. 

"Jack, I want to ask you something, to help me understand something... okay?" She asked, her voice sad. 

"Kate what's wrong?" He asked, immediately picking up on her saddened tone. 

"Why did you never tell me about Daniel?" 

"Wh.... I ... I don't see what that has to do with anything?" He replied, struggling to answer. 

"It would have changed everything. We broke up because of my relationship with my sister. If you had told me about Daniel... I think I would had understood why you couldn't understand.... don't you think that would have made things easier... or was it simply your chance to wriggle your way out...." 

"Kate." He began, but found words were not enough. 

"Please explain it to me Jack, I need to understand." 

"I never mentioned Daniel to anyone, but yes, that is why I was angered by you pain over Marie. I couldn't understand why you were so upset, seen as it was literally the same between me and Daniel..... I don't know why I never told you... it was just... easier..... I hadn't seen him in over 20 year Kate, it wasn't exactly an easy thing to talk abut. But I never wanted to get out of it Kate, never. I was devastated when you kicked me out, can't you see that?" He asked, feeling his heart brake in his chest once more, it hurt just thinking about the memories. 

"Jack..." Kate began, tears in her eyes. "I don't know what any of this means.... I still love you, y'know... even though my first day back in you life I find myself dragged into a terrorist plot." She laughed, trying to relieve some of the tension and take the strain off her words, she didn't want to smother him all at once. 

"Can we work something out then?" He asked hopeful. 

"Why don't you just concentrate on getting better, I'll stop by to see you tomorrow." 

She got up and moved closer to him, giving him a brief kiss on the lips, lingering their perhaps a little longer than was necessary. She then smiled at him and made to leave the room. She stopped at the door frame and turned to face him, "I'll come by tomorrow, if that's okay with you." 

The smile on his face told her all she needed to know. 

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One more to go then its done! Ha ha ha!!!! 


	42. Chapter 42 THE END

Four slow months had passed for Jack, although time had began to speed up slightly once he was released from hospital one month ago, his life was finally getting back on track. He had to go to a physio session once a week for work on his arm, as the nerve tissue was badly damaged. It would always require special exercises to keep it fully functional without pain. He had surprisingly found that if he missed one of those appointments the arm would stiffen up and become a pain, which is why he made sure to motivate himself to go each week, despite the inconvenience. 

He was due back at C.T.U in a week, and was relieve that he had finally been physically cleared to go back. Knowing everything could return to normal was a huge mount of his shoulders. He had seen Kate on numerous occasions, and they were now in the stage of their relationship where they were not entirely sure if it is official or not, despite their growing commitment to one another. Although they had done nothing more than a few friendly kisses it was clear they sustained some sort of relationship. Neither had shown any interest in anyone else, and Jack had been spending a lot of time in her condo since his release form hospital. Kate had also found herself practically living in the hospital with Kim throughout his stay too. Although he was scared of loosing her again, he was confident that they would be in a serious relationship soon enough. 

Jack had awoke in the morning feeling particularly down. He knew which day it was, and always had trouble getting through it each year. No matter how many years had passed he still found he missed them, which is why it broke his heart so much that Kim too, had lost a parent; as he knew she would never truly get over it. He certainly hadn't. Moving on is an entirely different thing to accepting something, and he had only grasped one aspect since their death. 

He left the house early and got in the car for the hour or so drive. His mind running in circles with 'what if's' the way it always does on this particular anniversary. He didn't do it purposefully, but he couldn't help but wonder how he would have turned out if his parents hadn't died. He was almost certain he wouldn't have bothered with the army, and so wouldn't have ended up at C.T.U. He wondered what he would be doing today if he didn't have to visit his parents grave. 

After arriving at the cemetery he parked the car up and got out and zipped his jacket up before heading up the cobbled path to the top of the hill, then he'd cut through the grass diagonally, skipping other graves until he arrived at theirs. The one next to the only conifer tree in the entire grounds. It stood out against all of the other rotting trees and brush in the place, which made his smile as he thought about it. He stepped off the brown pathway and headed over the shortly cut grass walking against the strong wind. As he approached the gravestone he saw someone stood before it already. He didn't need the figure to turn around to see who it was, he knew it was Daniel. He knew by instinct, and the fact that the person clearly had an ear missing with a thick mess of wraps stuck on his head where it should be, confirmed this. 

He walked over and Daniel turned and looked at him before moving over to give Jack some space. After a quick nod between the two they both fixed their sight onto the single grave stone bearing their parents names. 

After a minutes silence Daniel finally spoke. "Jack...... I know it was you who pulled all the strings.... to stop C.T.U from prosecuting me... for being involved with the bomb and all...." 

"Yeah." Jack whispered, not sure what to say. 

"I ... I'm sorry.. Jack, I just wanna say thanks.... you know.... it could have turned out a lot worse for me." He spoke sheepishly, still keeping his gaze fixed on the gravestone. 

"I know." 

"Well I'd better go... I only came because I knew you'd be here, and I wanted to say... you know..." 

Jack nodded before asking, "Where you going?" 

"I... don't know." 

"You running again?" He asked, slightly angered, yet also feeling let down and disappointed. 

"No... I just.... I don't know." 

The two had now managed to make eye contact, and Jack was afraid to look away, he didn't want to loose him again. 

"Well, you could stay at my at my place 'till you figure out what your going to do?" He asked, trying to keep the pleading out of his voice, he didn't want Daniel to see he was desperate. 

Daniel smiled at Jack's offer, grateful for it. In truth, he didn't want to run away anymore, and now he had nothing to run from, Jack wanted him back in his life. 

"Iv been renting a place down town, might as well stay their 'till the lease runs out next week." 

Jack nodded his approval. 

Daniel fished his hand into his pocked and pulled out a card with an address printed on it. He handed it to Jack before walking away. Jack thumbed the card and couldn't help but smile to himself, thankful he wasn't leaving again. 

"Don't be a stranger Jack." 

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_And their it was.... THE END!!!_

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_Hope you enjoyed it, and thank-you to everyone who took the time to leave a review._

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_If there's anything you think I have missed or not fully explained e-mail me and I'll be happy to elaborate and clear it up for you._

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_Cheers :)_


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